Mean
by kimsooyeon123
Summary: credit to the owner
1. Chapter 1

Tiffany peeked through the curtains as soon as she heard the unfamiliar lorry pulled up the hood at the back. It revealed just a few furnitures, such as a set of sofa, an old cupboard and few suitcases.

Just few minutes ago, she was actually doing her school assignment over human anatomy and some stuff she did not even like for. But it all went undone when she heard the yelling voices from the next house about the upcoming lorry.

Apparently, there was a family moving in which was weird because as she believed, there were people living in the said house. A grandma and also a grandpa, that was how she called them as.

She often pays a visit at the said house almost everyday because she loves to talk with them, especially the grandma. The grandpa however likes to spend his time in his room or his small library. It was also sadden her that the house was huge but only lived by two people.

She once asked about the children of the pairs but they only had a daughter and a son. Both of their children already married and had a family already so that was why they left them lived by themselves over the few years.

But they often visited the house twice a week at least and the son, sent his youngest child for their care. And Tiffany loves to play with the kid too. The name was Lami, Kim Lami. She was a 9 year-old kid and she also had a sister.

Tiffany never asked about her sister but it was mysterious enough for her since Lami always mentioned her sister and she also wanted to be like her sister, her own idol.

Tiffany assumed that Lami was not that close with her sister but she was all wrong when Lami showed the present that her sister gave her during her 8th birthday, it was a cute pink bike with four-wheels on since she was still a beginner. And Lami also told her how kind and good her sister was.

At that moment, she knew that the Kim's household was rich as frick. She did not dare to ask the grandma or the grandpa what they did but when she asked Lami, the answer was not quite convincing, "Mommy clothes, daddy sleeps and unnie grows!"

She did not even try to translate those saying because she did not want to be a busybody too.

So, back to now, she saw a middle-aged woman but still looking so beautiful ordering the men to bring the things down from the lorry and proceeds into the house.

She tried to peek any other occupants but she could only see the middle-aged woman and the men. But when she saw Lami went out from the house with a man, she connected the dots.

The son and the family of Grandma Kim's moving in.

"Miyoung! What are you doing?"

She flinched by her mother's loud voice while rubbing her sore ear that had been flicked by her mother too.

"It's not nice to peek, Miyoung," her mother clicked her tongue.

Tiffany just grinned, "Curiosity kills the cat, mom."

She saw her mother shakes her head then she walked back to the kitchen.

She ignored her red ear then took a glance at the windows again.

Now, the lorry was gone and only left with a black Mercedes' latest car, she assumed.

 _Wow,_ she thought.

"Miyoung, lunch's ready!" Her mom yelled.

She tried to peek whose the owner but it looked like the owner already went inside the house then shrugged before she headed to the kitchen.

By evening, Tiffany had done her assignment and decided to take a visit at the next house. At the same time, she would also like to meet the Kim's family. She never once met the parents of Lami since Lami always came at the afternoon when she was still in school and went home usually in the evening, when she probably had sleeping.

So, it was like killing two birds with a stone for her. She gets to meet the parents and she also gets to visit the grandparents though in a deep down, she also would like to meet the sister too.

She wears a proper outfit, afraid that the family would be a religious or a strict one because she never saw Lami wears anything other than dresses that ends up till her knees. Not the one that kids usually wears like the racy clothes or something.

She asked for a permisson from her mother first before she went outside. Unfortunately, her father was not in the country and he could not join her little adventure because her father always the supportive one than her strict mother.

Clearing her throat not to hard, she rang the bell of the mansion. When she saw the small door opened, which usually did since the grandma recognized her much, she stepped inside and was surprised to see the same middle-aged woman.

"Good evening," she made a small bow then flashed her famous eyesmile.

It looked like the woman was a bit startled but then she replied with a smile too, "Good evening too, darling. Come inside." She gestured her.

Tiffany just followed her though she knows almost all the pathway of the house. It was being polite, she would say.

"You must be Miyoung, right? My mother in-law talks a lot about you."

And it looked like everyone would be calling her as Miyoung from now on. She really hated her Korean name. Her mother really likes to address her as Miyoung and that one episode grandma Kim caught the name-calling when her mother called her, the old woman started to call her as Miyoung after that. She said and I quote, "It's such a beautiful name."

"Yes, I'm Tiffany actually," she smiled rather awkwardly.

When they had reached into the house, Tiffany did take a glance at the garage where the black Mercedes was at but it was gone already. She just let it away and followed the grandma Kim's daughter in-law. She seems nice, just like how the old woman describes her.

"You can call me aunty Kim. Bet you already met my youngest daughter?" _Aunty_ Kim asked. Tiffany answered with a nod.

The woman had gestured her to sit on the sofa, which she assumed the one that she moved in with since it was kinda new to her.

Tiffany wanted to ask her where grandma Kim was but the old woman beats her when she appeared from the kitchen, using a stick to balance herself.

Tiffany hurriedly went to help the old woman as she made her way to the living room. She also helped the woman to settle down at the sofa too. She sat beside the woman, a thing she always did and it had became a habit for her.

"As I was saying... my family just moved in here this afternoon to accompany my mother and father in-law. They're getting old, aren't they?"

Tiffany caught the playful remarks by Mrs. Kim but she just smiled. She did not know how to reply, afraid that it would offend the old woman in either way.

"This daughter of mine is really naughty, Miyoung. Don't mind her," grandma Kim pats her hands that clasping together with hers.

She lets out a small laugh, nothing better than laughing when you did not understand the joke anyway.

Soon after, Tiffany had known that Mrs. Kim and the family was actually from Busan, not that far from Seoul but still. It fascinated her that the story behind the Kim's family was really good. Blame her addiction with the romance books then.

Mrs. Kim and Mr. Kim both studied at the same university back there in Busan and just like a clichè story, they dated and bla bla (I'm too lazy to explain).

They had few talks about this and that when the door suddenly bursted open and revealing Lami and a man, Mr. Kim, she would like to address him by the way Mrs. Kim's "You're home, darling."

Lami hugged her like they had not met for years which only for weeks, actually. Bet the girl missed her as much as she missed her.

Once again, she introduced herself to Lami's father who had such a good sense of humor just like her wife.

She gasped when she saw the sky was dark outside, she did not even notice that it was nearly 7 in the evening and her mother would be furious if she gets home late. As she wanted to excuse herself, the door once again bursted open and I know this sounds exaggerate, but Tiffany feels like she just saw an angel. But with the confidence aura around her.

"Just have a dinner with us, Miyoung," at times like this, grandma Kim calls her. It was such a bad timing by the way the angel raised an eyebrow, looking at her weirdly because of her name.

"Okay," she defeated.

"Oh Taeyeon, you're back!"

Suddenly, Mrs. Kim appeared behind her. She hugged the said person but Tiffany could see the person did not fond of the hug, she could read through her eyes though she was not an A+ student of psychology, she learnt few about it.

As they had finished their dinner, Tiffany thanked all of them for having her. The dinner was great since Mr. Kim and Mrs. Kim always tried to make jokes and also asked her few things of their new place.

But one thing that she really intrigued the most was the fact that Lami's sister, Taeyeon was like as hard as rock. She did not even talk throughout the dinner. Now, where's the kind and good sister or granddaughter is she?

Tiffany mentally scoffed at that.

"I'll be taking my leave now," Tiffany said as politely as she could. It was good enough that tomorrow would be Sunday and she had no classes on Sunday.

"Sure. Taeyeon will give you a company," Mrs. Kim said happily.

Tiffany swore she saw Taeyeon was caught off guard by the sudden request because her eyes widened for a few seconds then looked at her, as if it could kill her.

"Your name is nice, Mi. Young," Taeyeon said once they were outside.

Tiffany sensed the sarcasm. She was not stupid but she just let it be. This Taeyeon would not make any better either. Her mind must be not in good state when she said Taeyeon looked like an angel earlier. It was more like a devil, for her.

"And TaeTae is nice too," she retorts back.

Oh, two can play a game.

She halted her steps when Taeyeon suddenly stands in front of her, blocking the way to the gate.

"Excuse me, TaeTae. Can you please back off? I have class tomorrow, hello?" She challenged the woman, raising her eyebrow. Just one white lie isn't going to hurt.

She already disqualified Taeyeon from her friends' list. No one even dares to mock her name. Yes, she admits that she didn't like it but come on, this Taeyeon only met her today and she already dared to make a fun with her name. How low was that?

She saw Taeyeon looked so pissed off but she careless. Thankfully Taeyeon was shorter than her so she could still looked like a champion there. But it looked like her voice stucked in her throat when she saw Taeyeon's eyes changed to a cold one in a split second.

"You disgusts me."

And Tiffany never felt wanted to cry in front of a person she just met few hours ago.


	2. Chapter 2

Tiffany groaned in exasperation while keeping her books into the locker then takes out another for the next class.

"He's the evil, I tell you," she exclaimed.

"Chill down, Tiff. Professor Snape is just being himself. It's literally YOUR fault that you didn't finish the assignment," her friend, Jessica emphasized the word.

"Oh, come on. You know I hate detention, right?" Tiffany jutted her lips.

Yes, you heard it right. She was going to have a detention just because she did not finish the assignment that her professor asked her on the weekend, last weekend to be exact. The reason was as simple as that, the annoying jerk named Kim Taeyeon. She admitted that it was her fault that she was too caught up of investigating the jerk. After the incident last two nights ago, she really did cry right after she entered her room. The humiliation was too much. The midget did not learn the word name manners perhaps.

When she heard the doorbell rang in the morning, Sunday's morning to be precise, she quickly ran to the door, thinking it was the postman so she could care less of her pink Totoro pajamas, but she got the shocked of her life when she saw the subject of why she cried last night by the door, looking so formal with the working attire. Did not Taeyeon is in the same age of hers?

"Should've known that it's you."

Taeyeon's voice broke her out of her trance. The mocking-voice did not go unnoticed either. She glared at the woman, oblivious of her clothes to do so.

"Well, this is for your family, pig," Taeyeon chuckled.

Tiffany did not even have to ask why she had been called as Taeyeon gawking at her from the bottom till she met her eyes again. She huffed in annoyance, "Well, thank you then." For now, she needs to be strong though the harsh words were killing her inside. Nonetheless, she just smiled. Her parents taught her a lot about people who does not have manners and Kim Taeyeon was one of them.

She knows that she made a good decision just to let Taeyeon stands there by the door and not inviting her in because she did not want Taeyeon to hurt her mother by being like a heartless person, but she bade them good bye when her mom caught her standing at the front door and went to her side then greeted Taeyeon, to her dismay.

"Oh, look who's here?" her mother asked in a surprise tone.

"I'm Taeyeon, Mrs. My family and I just moved in yesterday," Tiffany saw Taeyeon pointed the house next to them to her mother. "And we're giving rice cakes to the neighbors."

Strangely, I repeat, strangely, Taeyeon sounded like a normal person does. She sounded so well-mannered and a very polite person. Tiffany already thinks that perhaps Taeyeon had a mental problem or something.

"Ah, I see. Thank you, Taeyeon," her mother smiled to the said person. "And Miyoung, why didn't you let her come in? It's not polite to let the guest outside," the attention was at her again. She could see the flames inside the eyes of her mother. She gulped in nervousness. As she was about to reply, the jerk beats her.

"No, it's okay. I'm going to work now. I'll just drop by the next time," Taeyeon was glancing at her wristwatch now, Tiffany noticed.

That statement made her frown. Taeyeon's working? She was certainly sure that Mrs. Kim said that Taeyeon was the same age as her so Taeyeon must had like just a year left till bachelor. She was too caught up of her thoughts that she did not realize that Taeyeon left already when her mother nudged her elbow to get inside.

She shook her head, why was she even thinking about it actually? She placed the plastic bag contained the rice cakes on the kitchen's counter and went inside her room, doing her morning routine while still thinking of a neighbour of hers.

"Thinking of your neighbour again?"

She was startled when Jessica tapped her shoulder. She was thinking deeply again, didn't she? She did not realize that they had arrived at the cafeteria, having their late-breakfast. Morning classes were never the favorites of the two sleepyheads anyway.

She thanked Jessica when her friend handed her a sandwich.

"And to answer your question just now, she's a jerk," she said while munching her sandwich.

Jessica just shrugged, "A jerk. Yeap, I'll totally remember that."

As usual like she always did every day, she takes a visit to the next house. She wanted to play with the little kid, really. No other intention. But this time, she already done all the school work, she did not want another detention on the next day though. It was hectic enough that the evil professor - Professor Snape- punished her to sweep the gym. It was a huge gym, the nerve of that professor.

She greeted grandma Kim whom opened the door for her before heading to the living room, where the little girl always at.

"Unnie!"

She was engulfed in a tight hug of her legs as soon as the girl saw her.

"I missed you too, Lami."

This time, she crouched so that she could hug the girl properly. She was the only daughter of her family, so she treated Lami like her own sister. Lami was one of her happiness too.

After the emotional hug, they went to the secured-place of the little girl -her little playground she said- in the garden. There was nothing special, just where her toy was placed. All of them. And it was not only a few, Tiffany even lost counted how much but she knew it was more than a hundred.

She asked where the parents were and Lami told her that they went out. Tiffany just shrugged then watched from a far. She could see that the little girl was coloring so she went to see it, only to get blocked by the owner. "Unnie, no! It's not finished yet," Lami covered the book with her small hands. Tiffany could see what it was, but she pretended that she did not and let out a chuckle. Lami was too adorably cute.

"Unnie!" She stopped when she heard Lami. She arched an eyebrow, why did Lami even call her when they were just like few steps a far from each other, but her lips turned into a straight line when she noticed that there was another person in the garden with them.

The jerk itself, Jerk Taeyeon.

She saw Lami ran into the jerk's embrace. She just crossed her arms. And the jerk even dares to disturb her time with Lami. Very rude, indeed.

She coughed, indirectly saying that she was still exist when she saw how Lami mumbling over something to Taeyeon with such excitement. Tiffany also noticed of how soften Taeyeon's eyes were. She saw love. She let out a smile, Taeyeon really loves Lami. She felt very warm on the inside.

"Unnie, this is Tiffany Unnie. Tiffany Unnie, this is Taeyeon Unnie! My Unnie!" Lami walked with Taeyeon by her side to Tiffany. She was so ecstatic, she even told Taeyeon to shake her hand with Tiffany's. Both women awkwardly shake their hands, simply because of the little girl. They just could not say no to her puppy eyes.

"I'm just doing this for Lami," the other woman said while still glancing at Lami whom went to the corner to grab something.

"Pft, as if I'm doing this for you," Tiffany huffed back.

They let go of their hand and smiled to Lami. The little girl gave them something. It was a pink bear doll and a blue bear doll. She gave the pink one to Tiffany and the blue one to Taeyeon, "The pink one is Pinky and the blue on is Bluewi," the little girl said after some time. "Take care of them really well please because Pinky is a girl and Bluewi is a boy! They'll get married!" she exclaimed happily then giggled.

Tiffany and Taeyeon looked at each other with a shrug. They were confused of what they had been told about but nonetheless, they just nodded.

But Tiffany had not forgotten over the day before incident when Taeyeon said she was going to work. Perhaps it was the best time to ask, she thought.

"So... you're a working?" she eventually asked when they placed their dolls on the carpet grass together with Lami.

"Yeah," Taeyeon coolly replied. She set the bear aside. "And don't even try to ask anything. I'm not going to talk to you," she glared at her, still glancing at Lami who was humming something while coloring.

Tiffany nearly, I repeat, nearly reached her boiling point. She really had the urge to choke the jerk right now and let her die in her hands then threw the dead body on the river. A good plan indeed. But she would be in jailed and there would be too much drama.

No one dared to treat her like that. So, she swore in the name of pink, she's going to plan a revenge to the heartless jerk.

"Revenge? Yea, just do whatever you want, pig," Taeyeon laughed.

Tiffany looked at the woman weirdly.

"What? You said revenge very loudly."

Plan aborts.


	3. Chapter 3

Another typical long day of studying for Tiffany but she was more delighted that her very morning class had cancelled, which was Professor Snape's lesson. She was mad at the same time. She had finished her work that she was assigned to but the professor absent. The nerve of that professor-

"So, you're saying that she's working?" Jessica's question brings her back to the reality. She saw Jessica arched an eyebrow while unwrapping the plastic of the bun.

"Yes," Tiffany replied shortly.

She told Jessica about yesterday's incident and the information of a certain jerk. She took a sip of her drink slowly.

"Let me wrap this up. Taeyeon is a rich person, she's the same age as us but she's working? Are you sure it's not a part time job or something because it's too young to find a proper job at our age unless a genius?" Jessica rambled out.

Tiffany instantly stopped drinking. Everything that her friend said makes sense. Taeyeon is probably working as a part timer, yes it sure is.

She replied with a shrug. No one knows though and plus, she wanted to drop the topic. It had been more than 10 minutes they had been talking about it and it bored the hell out of her. It was still early till her next class which happened to be the last class of the day. She only had two classes which was why she really loved Tuesday.

She was startled when someone tapped her shoulder. Turning around, she smiled when she saw who it was, "Hello Yoona."

The said person greeted back then sat at the empty chair beside hers. Jessica only waved at the new comer because was still full of the bun, Tiffany just shook her head. Her best friend was really something.

As Tiffany turned her attention back to Yoona, she saw Yoona took out a few thick books and placed them on the table. She was immune of it. Yoona was one of the top students in the college so she prioritized her studies more than anything. She was younger than Tiffany, but she skipped a few years of college because she was a genius. But, Yoona was not that kind of smart kids that unsociable, in fact, she was the prankster.

"Studying again?" Jessica asked. This time, she had finished eating already.

Yoona smirked, "Nope. I just want the professors to think that I'm studying. Look at 2."

Tiffany and Jessica looked at the location and shakes their head off. Indeed, the professors were whispering about Yoona then smiled in satisfaction.

Tiffany grinned in happiness when she saw the familiar car parked in the garage. As soon as she stepped into her house, she ran to the living room, "Daddy!" she said in enthusiasm. Without any second thought, she hugged her father who was still reading a newspaper.

"Missing me much?" Her father asked teasingly.

She missed her father so much. Two weeks without him was like living with another Professor Snape in the house. Her mother was very a serious person. She let go of the hug and smiled in gratefulness, "How was your trip?"

And just like that, her father told her about the business trip of his. Her father was the owner of one of the top grossing companies in Korea. It was a family company. It had been serving for ages. You could say that it was running through the blood connection well. And you guess it right, Tiffany was going to be one who take over the company once she finished studying.

So that was why she listened to it very clearly. She would be the one who's in charged after her father's retired. It was kind of bit hectic to learn such things in such a young age at first, but it was her responsibility after all.

She once laughed over the drama she always watched in the television about family's business but now, she understood the karma. It was totally not her cup of coffee but that was how her life would be. Even she was in a primary school, her father would tell her about the company's financial problem and whatnots.

Sooner or later, she would learn everything about it, so she had no complaints. Besides, she did not want to disappoint her parents.

"So, the company is in a stable state now?" She asked while munching the cookies that her mother just served on the table.

Call her clingy but she just really loved to cling to her father. She laid down on her father's lap while resting her legs on the armrest of the couch.

Her father strokes her hair, "Indeed it is. We have a new project but it's a collaboration with another company."

Tiffany hummed in reply, munching the last bite of the cookie.

"The company named is Im's Buildinations and don't even ask me what's that means. I also have no idea," her father said when he saw Tiffany was about to retort something regarding of the company's name.

She laughed and nearly fell down from the couch when her father caught her on the waist, "Now, you should take a shower. You smell like a dead fish." Her father wrinkled his nose then gets her off from his lap. He pats butt her in a loving way, leaving Tiffany embarrassed.

"Daddy!"

Tiffany awaken from her nap then took a glance at the clock on the wall. She did not sleep that long anyway; the clock strikes at 3.12 in the evening.

She groaned then rubbed her eyes. After gaining her consciousness, she jumped out of the bed then went to the bathroom to freshen up. Once she was done, she headed downstairs then greeted both of her parents.

"I'm going to play with Lami, Mom," she announced.

Her mother knows about Lami and the neighbors since she insisted to know about them last week, so Tiffany told her.

"You're not going to work, Daddy?"

She just realized that her father did not go to work which was odd. Her father was known as a workaholic anyway.

"Nope, taking off a day because of the jetlag. I'm getting old, Miyoung-ah," her father replied in a teasing tone.

Tiffany just shrugged then slipped into the slippers, was heading to the door but halted when she thought of something.

"Daddy, you haven't met the new neighbours yet right?" Tiffany wiggled her eyebrows.

Her father arched his eyebrow but nodded slowly, "Yeah?"

"Come on, let's meet them then!" She replied happily.

Without any reply from the man itself, she dragged him then helped him to put on the flip flops too and bade goodbye to the mother.

She giggled and played with her father's arm for a while. She was indeed a daddy girl, but she could only care less. She was happy with it so why bother hearing other people opinions? Wasting her time.

She rang the bell and as usual, the door was opened by Mrs. Kim.

"Good morning, aunty. This is my father," she introduced her father to the woman.

"Hello, Miyoung's father. I'm Kim Luna," they shook their hands politely.

Tiffany's father chuckled lightly, "I'm Leo Hwang, nice to meet you."

Mrs. Kim gasped, just like how the others' reaction whenever they heard Tiffany's father's name.

"Don't worry, aunty. He's a good person," Tiffany smiles, hoping it would ease the woman's worry face.

She never liked the attention people would give to her, to the family after they had known their background. They would always treat them highly like they were powerful just to have her father's attention. She never brags so that was why she never told people about her family a lot. She only did when they could be trusted enough.

Just like now, she could trust the neighbors simply because she could sense that they were all bunch of group people.

After much persuades of Tiffany to the woman, they had been invited inside and went to the living room. Tiffany just stayed put politely when the elders talking over some business things. She wanted to ask where was Lami, but it was totally impolite of hers to do so. Therefore, she just fidgeting her fingers, looking so awkward and out of place when in fact, the house was kind of her second house already.

"Unnie!"

She quickly lifted her head up when she heard the familiar voice. She broke into a big smile when the girl ran to her and hugged her, like usual.

Lami sits on her lap with confusion written all over her face.

"And who is this little girl?" Her father suddenly asked.

Lami looked frightened for a while but Tiffany held her firm, "It's okay, Lami. He's my father."

The said girl glanced at her then at her father continuously, "Same face!" She exclaimed.

All of them broke into a big laughter because of the little girl. Tiffany was indeed a copy and paste from her father's face. They could even be like twins.

After a while, Tiffany excused herself from the elders who were still talking over politics and brought Lami along. They entered the garden again.

For the whole day, there was something bugging on her mind.

"Lami-ah, what is actually your sister's occupation?"

Last time she asked about it, Lami was only 8 so she was still talking gibberish that time. Plus, she did not really know about the sister at that time but now, her curiosity was slowly killing her in.

"She draw! I don't know what it is called but she's an ar-"

"Lami?"

And Tiffany cursed of the bloody hell. The stupid Taeyeon had come at such a good timing, very good indeed. She cut off Lami's words just like that. Wow, she really felt like want to choke the shorter girl by now.

Lami turned around and grinned happily towards her sister. Tiffany mentally scoffed. Devil sister.

"Why don't you go to the kitchen? I brought cupcakes for you," Taeyeon said then tapped Lami's nose.

Tiffany just stared at the intruder, more like glaring.

When Lami already walked away, Taeyeon smirked, "Still being so busybody? What's so important of my job to you?" Taeyeon walked to her place, making her back out slowly.

Tiffany wanted to retort back, she really wanted to, but it looked like she lost her voice. It made sense, what was the purpose of her asking about Taeyeon? She did not know it too. She tried to think of any reason, but nothing came out.

Taeyeon intrigued her.

That was the case but as she shifted her eye gaze to the woman's eyes, she suddenly got lost of the dark black orbs. They were pulling her in. She could see the anxiety inside them and Taeyeon suddenly looked away.

She raised an eyebrow, what was that about?

Taeyeon looked so scared for a moment there.

"J-just don't ever talk to me again," Taeyeon broke the silence with her cold voice and left Tiffany alone at the garden, leaving her in her thoughts.

When she thinks about it, she was not the one who talked to Taeyeon, but it was Taeyeon itself. She scoffed and kicked the pebbles on the grass carpet.

But one thing Kim Taeyeon did not know, Tiffany Hwang never gives up. Especially now she knows that Taeyeon draws for her working but what was it? Lami only managed to say "ar", was it an artist then?


	4. Chapter 4

Tiffany went back to the living room after Taeyeon left her alone. Her father was still talking with Mrs. Kim still with politicians. She awkwardly sat back to her place before and gave a timid smile to Mrs. Kim when she suddenly looked at her. Not long after, grandma Kim appeared with a tray and Lami followed behind.

Tiffany gets up from her seat and hurriedly helped grandma Kim serving the drinks to the elderly. She mentally snickered when she realized Taeyeon did not even help grandma Kim when in fact, she knows grandma Kim was getting older and it was not easy of her to walk without a stick. And there goes the kind-hearted sister slash granddaughter.

Grandma Kim smiled sweetly at her and thanked her then took a seat next to her daughter in-law. Lami in the other hand, sat on Tiffany's lap. At times, Lami gets very clingy and this was one of those moments, but Tiffany really likes it. She knows the little girl loves her as much she loves her. She tightens her grip on Lami's waist to prevent her from falling.

From the corner of her eyes, she could feel someone was watching her in the kitchen, but when she turned around, there was no one. She just shrugged then watched Lami played the game on her iPad when the elders were talking, even grandma Kim itself. When her father asked them where the older Kim was, "In his library." As usual, spending his time with reading lots of book himself.

Tiffany had once asked him why, he would answer the same answer he said to everyone, "I love reading. They put my mind in ease." Tiffany could figure that something was probably off, but she just let it be. Everyone has their own privacy anyway.

They were startled when her father's phone rang. The music was kind of embarrassing that she had to facepalm herself when she received the look from both Mrs. Kim and grandma Kim itself. Her father excused himself to answer the call for a while and returned with a gloomy expression.

"I'm sorry but Stephanie and I have to head back now. My wife is getting worried that we might be not going home soon," her father joked.

Luckily, the house owners understood them. Tiffany tried to get Lami off from her, but the little girl was so immersed of her barbie's game that she did not even realize her mother had urged her to scoot away already. In the end, Mrs. Kim itself had to carry the crying girl to her room, leaving Tiffany in guilty.

"It's okay, Miyoung. You'll be here, tomorrow right?" Grandma Kim asked her. Looked like the older woman knows her too well. She had a soft part when it involves Lami.

Tiffany smiling apologetically, "I'm sorry but I have a project, so I have classes in the evening from tomorrow."

She saw grandma Kim's expression dropped drastically but she could not say anything. She really had a project since the mid-term exams was just around the corner, she needs to start working out for the points.

Both of her father and her excused themselves and thanked to the older woman. Right then, she could also feel someone was staring at her. She turned her attention to the kitchen once again but there was no one.

"Something's wrong?" her father asked worriedly.

She just shakes her head and gave a reassuring smile.

Perhaps she was just hallucinating.

Yeah, that maybe is.

After a long week and the endless paper work, she finally freed from all of them. She tiredly dragged her body to the bed, without taking off her uniform. Her mother would probably nag her, but she was too tired to even get up anymore. She closed her eyes slowly and without knowing, she dozed off.

Soon, she woke up when she felt her face was being and smelled. At first, she just let it be since she just woken up and still fuzzy of everything. But when she realized the odd, she opened her eyes quickly and was met with the doe eyes of a white Maltese. In defense, she pulled her head back and glanced at the clock. It was still early, she still had some time to have her sleep back, but the white puppy just woke her up.

Rubbing her eyes, she realized she was still in her uniforms and groaned when she tried to smoothen her wrinkled skirt. Knowing it wouldn't get back to its original state, she looked back at the puppy. It was cute, she admitted. She picked the puppy up and pets it. It had very fluffy fur too and very white, even whiter than a piece of paper if she could differentiate it. But the real question was, who's the owner?

She shrugged then brought the puppy downstairs, wanting to ask her mother whose puppy it was.

"Oh, you're awake. You haven't eaten your lunch yet."

Her mother's voice greeted her from the living room when she just stepped onto the stairs.

"And you've met with Prince already," her mother added.

She raised an eyebrow while making her way to her mother, "The name is Prince?"

Without averting her attention to the cooking's show on the television, she nodded.

"Fluffy."

"Excuse me?" Eventually, her mother looked at her direction.

"I'll name it Prince Fluffy," she smiled while petting with the said puppy. "Is it ours?"

"It's a he and he's yours," her mother emphasized.

She took a seat next to her mother, still petting and played with the puppy's ears. They're too cute to be ignored.

"You're too engrossed with your project recently so I was thinking that getting you a company would be great."

She looked at her mother lovingly, "Thank you."

Her mother just shrugged nonchalantly and turned her fully attention at the television again.

Tiffany knows that even her mother was a strict person, she only did that because she loves her truthfully, adding the reason why she could not despise her though she often scolds her. Her father spoilt her very much rather than her mother itself.

She went to the kitchen after that. She was starving so she put the puppy down slowly, thinking he would just stay there but she groaned inwardly when she saw the puppy ran to the open door. Can someone remind her that Prince was still new to the environment?

Reluctantly, she followed the puppy, still oblivious of her untidy state, hair was still messy from napping and her wrinkled uniforms. It was good enough that the puppy jumped to the next house slash her neighbour which she had not visited for a while because of the project.

She also followed the trail of the puppy and sighed when she heard the familiar voice, "What the hell?!"

Yeap, Jerk Taeyeon.

She closed her eyes for a while then took a deep breath. She knows she was going to face the jerk sooner or later anyway.

Wearing a sorry look, she went to the house yard where her puppy went. She saw Prince was on the metal table where a stack of papers lied on and Taeyeon was crossing her arms as if she knows that the puppy was hers.

"I'm sorry!" she quickly apologized, did not want to add any fuel to the jerk's red face, perhaps because she was angry.

"You!" Taeyeon pointed at her like she was an object, a rubbish for example.

"Why do it always be you!"

Tiffany just kept shut when the other woman nagged her. She slowly picked Prince up from the table and her eyes suddenly looked at the paper contents. "You're an architect?" she did not mean to say it loud, but her mouth betrayed her. Unknowingly, she picked one of the papers and examined it. She was impressed, amazed even. The jerk was an architect?

"Don't touch my things!" Taeyeon snatched back the paper from her hold and massaged her temple. She sat back to her place.

"Just get your puppy away from me! I'll shave it fur if it nears me an inch! Or even yours!"

That caught Tiffany out off guard, she didn't have any fur, hello?

"I don't have fur if you're blind," Tiffany scoffed back. The midget was pissing her off in every way.

"Are you sure you don't have any?" Taeyeon gave a smirk, a dirty one. Her tone was amusing. It even changed drastically from mad to an unbelievable one.

Tiffany swore her face looks like a redden fresh tomato by now.

"Yah! You pervert!" Tiffany barked one more time and stomped her feet. She was so going to get that jerk back.


	5. Chapter 5

Tiffany went back to her home angrily with Prince in her hold. At the end of the day, she had learnt that the jerk was an architect and a byun as well.

She put the poor puppy down as she already closed the door and stomped her feet to the kitchen, resuming her last activity. She grabbed one of the cup noodles on the cupboard, peels off the aluminium lid then proceed to the kitchen counter to pour out the hot water. When she was done with the noodles, she takes a glass of water at the table, which she assumed her mother's but she could care less.

Carefully holding the glass and the cup noodles to her room, she noticed that her mother was no longer at the living room. She just shrugged, thinking perhaps her mother was in the garden or something and continued the journey to her room.

She closed the door behind and placed her things on the table, next to her laptop. She switched the laptop on then went to her closet, changing into a comfortable shirt and shorts. She thinks of taking a shower but it was still early so she just threw her uniform aside. Tomorrow would be a holiday for her anyway.

Plopping her body on the bed, her eyes suddenly stopped at the sliding doors of her veranda. She hurriedly closed the doors as her mind suddenly thought of a certain byun architect. Then, she walked back to the bed, now, bringing her laptop too. She logged into her Skype then clicked the video call button to one of her contacts.

While waiting for the person to pick up, she picked the cup noodle on the table and eat it slowly. Not long after, the person finally picked up the call. The screen displayed the face of Jessica, adjusting the camera.

Tiffany smiled as saw Jessica's face, "Hello birthday girl," she chirped.

She just received a snicker from the other line. It looked like Jessica was also on the bed, as the big doll behind her explained the situation.

"Wait a minute, mom's calling me," Jessica said then gone without hearing Tiffany's answer. Tiffany just shrugged, continued her not-so-called lunch while waiting for her friend to come back.

She was still eating when the screen suddenly displayed a close-up of lips. She choked and her hand quickly searched for the existence of her drink.

Turned out that it was Jessica's little sister, Krystal, "Hi Tiffany unnie!" She exclaimed, jumping on the bed, making the poor laptop to stumble unbalancedly.

Tiffany stiffly smiled then placed the empty cup and glass aside. She just mentally hope Jessica to come quickly. Jessica's sister always made her nervous sometimes though she did not know why. And her prayer was heard when she heard Jessica yelled to her sister to stop jumping on her bed and sent her outside.

Tiffany could hear Krystal whined about her sister's unfairness. She just let out a chuckle, Jung siblings were really one of a kind, she had to admit.

"We're going out tonight right?" Jessica asked as soon as Krystal went out from her room.

Tiffany nodded.

It was their tradition to celebrate each other birthdays by going out at night to watch movie, or even stroll around the mall. Besides, they knew each other for ages, Jessica was the only friend she knew.

It was the first year of junior high school for the little Tiffany. At first, she was beyond excited to know that she was going to enter junior high school but her anxiety suddenly gets into her when she watched some of the movies where the students got bullied by the upper students slash the seniors.

She tried to push aside the negative thoughts but it was haunting her till the starting day of school.

Little Tiffany also did not want her parents to be worried of her problem as her parents were more excited than her when they sent her to the school. She just smiled a bit to them then kissed both of their cheeks before stepping out from the car.

Unconsciously, she tightened her grip on her bag strap. Taking a deep breath before entering the school gate, she sighed in relief as she thought that it was not going to be that bad after all, she assured herself.

But she also did not expect the school to be that huge. It felt like she was in Hogwarts. And just like that, her anxiety came back. She thinks that she really should do well because her parents just sent her to one of the top high school in Seoul and she did not want to disappoint them either.

She sighed as she made her way to the noisy yet big hallway. She felt small all of sudden. She did not have any friends. The truth was, she actually just moved from her born place to Korea a month ago. Her Korean was also limited.

As she walked trough the busy hallway, she did not dare to lift her head up but her ears perked when she heard a commotion. Curiostiy kills the cat anyway. She lifted her head in a second and found a blondie, who she assumed in her age too was being surrounded by tall students.

She learnt Taekwondo when she was little, for 6 years so she braven herself then walked to the corner, where the commontion occured. This was what she expected and scared if she was in the blondie's place. Her parents once said, "Help others in need, Miyoung. Who knows they'll help you in the future?" And her speciality in Taekwondo would do a great help. Besides, she was a black-belted student. It sounds unrealistic but she loved the sports so much.

Clearing her throat loudly, all of the tall students turned around and looked at her. She felt small when she saw the pair of eyes that looked at her, even the blondie. She frowned when she saw a bag was at the side, perhaps it was the blondie's. She really despised bully very much, that was one of the reasons she took Taekwondo, it could help in the future like right now.

The little Tiffany changed her face into serious but only God knows how she felt inside. She suddenly regretted her desicion to face the bullies but one thing that she truly believed in herself was that, she never gives up. Tiffany Hwang never gives up.

She walked slowly to them although she was lack in height department, she had an overflowing aura. The tall students were all in their senior year as she took a glance at their nametags.

"Do not bully her," she said confidently.

It was pissing her off when the seniors laughed at her, as if they challenged her. It also ignited the flame inside her when she realized nobody gave a crap about them. She might be young but her mind could be mistaken as an adult's.

"You are so funny, kid. We didn't bully her, we just played a game with an American," one of them said while holding their stomach because too much laughing.

Her jaws dropped when she heard them. She looked at the blondie, studying her hard. So she's also an American?

"Hoy!"

Tiffany breaks out from her trance when Jessica's loud voice greeted her. She rubbed her ear in sarcastic way.

"Don't shout! Even it's coming from the laptop, if sounds like you're just beside me," she muttered in annoyance.

"I've been calling you for a while, idiot," she saw Jessica rolled her eyes.

Jessica was still in her last position but now, she had a phone under her grasp.

"Sorry, I spaced out a bit," Tiffany apologized.

Jessica just hummed, her eyes never left the screen of her phone.

Tiffany suddenly remembered today's incident. She spared a glance at the screen but her friend was still giving the full attention to her phone.

"Jessi," Tiffany started by calling her friend's nickname.

Jessica lifted her head then cocked an eyebrow at her, "What?"

Tiffany wanted to tell her friend about her byun neighbour but she dismissed her thought as she remembered that she was going to meet Jessica and it was more better to tell a story face to face than in a call.

"Nothing," she shook her head and she saw Jessica gave a shrug.

Tiffany smiled when she saw the familiar brunette at the entrance. She waved a hand, hoping her friend would see her and broke into a big grin when she saw Jessica walked towards her direction.

"You were late!" Was her first sentence to come out.

Jessica just rolled her eyes, "Only for 3 minutes, smarty pants. No parking."

They conversed in English after that, receiving the looks from the passerby but they did not care about that. They ignored them then went to buy the movie tickets. They decided that when one of them was lining up to buy the tickets, one of them needs to buy the popcorn, considering the long line.

Tiffany agreed to buy the popcorn and left Jessica alone, lining up to the counter tickets. They were going to watch the recent Disney movie, Beauty and the Beast. Tiffany was such a hardcore of Disney's movies and the fact that Emma Watson as Belle really makes her excited.

As she was lining up to buy the popcorn, she caught the familiar voices behind her. She wanted to turn around but she was afraid that it would not be the person she knows she just pushed aside the thought. But it really makes her curious. Besides, the voice was just behind her.

"Yoona?"

Tiffany's ears perked up and turn around when she heard Jessica's voice.

But she got her shocked of her life when she saw Yoona talking with whom.

"You?!"

"Taeyeon?!"


	6. Chapter 6

Tiffany huffed in annoyance while keeping the large size of popcorn under her hold. She was not going to line up again if the popcorn somehow fell down anyway. She already handed the drinks to Jessica, to her relief because she did not like to hold more than one thing and Jessica really knows her well.

It was really unexpected to meet Taeyeon in such condition and what even curious her more was, Yoona with Taeyeon. Just what in the world was the relationship of the two? Tiffany did not want to know although she cared only a little bit.

As she recognized Taeyeon just now, she avoided her gaze towards the byun neighbor in any way and by the time she told the worker her orders, she quickly dragged Jessica whose talking with Yoona from the place. Jessica on the other hand did not take it well. She was rather disappointed because it was rude to walk away from other conversations like that. Tiffany receives a good lecture from the birthday girl.

Jessica was still scolding her when they reached the waiting area. She placed the drinks and popcorn on the table provided and stared at Jessica once again. She just hummed to every word Jessica said.

When her friend took a sip to her Cola, she knows that her friend finished lecturing her.

"Jessi-"

As she was about to say something regarding of Yoona's partner, Yoona suddenly came out of nowhere with Taeyeon trailing behind shouting Jessica's name. It felt like her words suddenly stucked in her throat.

"Sica unnie!" Yoona greeted.

Theu hugged each other like they just met after years, Tiffany rolled her eyes seeing the dramatic event. Yoona could be an actress with those acting, she admitted. Jessica then bursted her frustration about Tiffany's rudeness and Tiffany scoffed of that. If only Tiffany could explain her way she acted like that, perhaps Jessica would not accuse her like that. She just stayed quite throughout the conversation but she already seated down as Taeyeon too, at the same time. Tiffany glared at her neighbor as she saw Taeyeon also seated down in front of her.

Her action however went unnotice by her neighbour as Taeyeon was focusing on her phone.

"Jerk," Tiffany muttered then grabbed her drink on the table rather harshly.

But what annoyed her the most was the fact that her two friends who were still talking to each other -still standing- did not even pay attention at her at all. And as she remembered, Yoona did not even introduce Taeyeon to them because too busy talking with Jessica.

"Oh yeah! Fany and Sica unnie, this is Taeyeon unnie and Taeyeon unnie, this is Tiffany and Jessica of you are of the same age."

After waiting for ages to both of the gossipers finished talking, Yoona and Jessica finally took a seat, joining Tiffany and Taeyeon then introduced Taeyeon to them. Tiffany raises her eyebrow when Yoona introduced Taeyeon to her. It looked like Taeyeon did not tell about her to Yoona, something smells very fishy but she dismissed the thought as she offered her hand to Taeyeon, hoping her to shake it when the neighbor just smiled, which was faked, Tiffany assumed, "Sorry, my hand's wet," as her reply.

Tiffany tried, tried really hard to smile because she witnesses Jessica did shake her hand to Taeyeon so why she wasn't? Oh how much she wanted to strangle the shorter woman so much. When her brain suddenly connected something, she quickly excused herself and dragged Jessica with her to the corner.

"Yah! That's the stupid Taeyeon I've been talking about!" she started as Jessica was squirming under her firm grip.

"What? No wonder her name sounds familiar to me... but she seems okay though," Jessica frowned.

Tiffany groaned in exasperation. She already received the weird looks from people when she pulled her hair in frustratiion. After she had regained her consciousness back, she took a deep breath. Realizing they were going to be late for the movie, she smiled in assurance then brough the frowming Jessica back to their place. She saw Yoona was talking with Taeyeon very animatedly but Taeyeon only nodded her head.

Without wasting any time, she asked Jessica to bring their stuff to the cinema because they did not want to be late while at the same time, excused themselves from Yoona and Taeyeon. Tifany was still unclear of Taeyeon and Yoona's relationship. Are they like lovers or something?

 _Okay, why would I even care?_

She shook her head then bade her goodbye to Yoona. She was still in her deep thoughts when Jessica nudged her elbow, saying that they finnaly arrived at the cinema. They carefeully took their steps through the stairs, afraid that their food and drink fell down. When they had found their seats, it had 4 seats so Tiffany squeezed herself out before scurrying to the very end seat with her reason," I don't want to sit beside someone else! You know me better, Jessi." And Jessica could not say no the stubborn her.

It was funny to think that it was actually Jessica's birthday but she was the eager one and also complains a lot to the birthday girl. She felt guilty but it was one of her personalities, thankfully Jessica did not complain much either.

She giggled like a kid when she finally seated down. She really could not wait for the movie to start. The saet was not that high nor low but it was in the middle and she really thanked Jessica for that. She placed the popcorn between them and placed her drink on its hole then relaxed her body, totally forgot today's incident.

But somehow, she felt uneasy, like something was going to happen right then. She dismissed her thought when Jessica looked at her worriedly, "Something's wrong?"

She shook her head then let her head rested on her friend's shoulder while waiting for the advertisement to roll. They actually arrived way early because the cinema was actually still emptied when they arrived just now but since it was nearly the time, people finally crowding the place by the sudden noise. She just let them be and closed her eyes for a while, liking the comfor of Jessica's shoulder. Jessica also did not look like she's mind since she was still pre-occupied with her she jerked up when Jessica suddenly sit up straight. When she wanted to scold her friend for that, her eyes suddenly caught Yoona and Taeyeon again with Yoona's loud voice squealing and Taeyeon did not seem like she mind about that as Tiffany watched her acting nonchalantly like it was a normal thing to do.

So, Tiffany had finally connected the puzzle when Taeyeon sat beside Jessica and Yoona was beside Taeyeon, which was at the end there, which also meant that they were going to watch the movie together. Tiffany seemed to be trouble with the info she received, Taeyeon did not seem like a person who would be watching Disney's movies but who was she to judge?

She shrugged and relaxed her head once again on Jessica's shoulder but she was getting annoyed when Jessica always moved as she talked to Yoona. She huffed in annoyance and crosses her arms disapprovingly.

"Yoona, shouldn't you change your seat with Taeyeon so you can talk with Jessica easily?" she voices out her opinion.

She was actually waiting for Taeyeon to say something but the said person just kept her mouth shut, looking like not annoyed of the situation she was in so Tiffany stepped in.

"No, I like sitting at the end and Taeyeon unnie likes to sit at the center."

That shut Tiffany's up. She was also not going to give up her seat just because to let Yoona and Jessica talk. So, she let out a sigh and staring at the blank screen in front. Her day was getting worse just because of Taeyeon.

"Stupid byuntae," she mumbled, unaware of her surroundings.

"What did you say?" She jerked from her seat and looked at her side.

She was surprised to see Taeyeon instead of Jessica, sitting while munching her shared-popcorn, I repeat, her shared-popcorn.

"They asked me to change place and I can't say no to the birthday girl," Taeyeon answered, perhaps she noticed the confusion on Tiffany's face.

And she finally realized that it was Jessica's birthday and yet, she acted like a total crap towards her best friends. The guiltiness starts to flow in. She sighed and ignored the woman beside her as the advertisement starts to play on the screen.

As she tried to focus, her phone on her pocket suddenly vibrated. Without any second thought, she swiftly unlocked then saw a message from Jessica.

 _"Work it out on her. She seems really nice, Tiff. Don't be such an uptight."_

"Turn it off. It's very distracting," Taeyeon whipered, very close to her ear. She could also hear the sarcasm behind.

Reluctantly, she did not send any reply yet but she turned it off in either way

 _Nice my ass..._


	7. Chapter 7

When the movie had started, Tiffany barely contained her excitement as she grabbed and squeezed person's hand beside her, literally forgotten that it was not Jessica's.

"Jessi, finally!" She exclaimed as she shook the hand too.

"Let go of my hand, idiot!"

The voice suddenly brings her back to the reality when she looked beside her, seeing Taeyeon's face turned red perhaps because of her anger. She quickly let go of Taeyeon's hand while mumbling her sorry. She cleared her throat when she received the weird look from Jessica.

"Way to go, Tiffany," she mumbled to herself.

She really tried hard to focus on the movie, especially the part when the poor Belle got bullied by the villagers but she could not help but kept on glancing at Taeyeon's hands that resting on her lap. She was still bothered by the fact that she just held the byun's hand (unintentionally) but the feeling felt foreign to her. Taeyeon's skin was very smooth, even smoother than a blank paper if it makes any sense.

She shook her head, trying to get away all of her stupid thoughts. She gave her main focus to the movie by the time she takes a sip of her drink. When she wanted to grab the popcorn between Taeyeon and her seat, their hands accidentally brushed against each other as Taeyeon also wanted to eat the popcorn. Thankfully because of the dark, her cheeks suddenly felt warm and timidly muttered a small "sorry", afraid that her neighbour scolded her again. She cleared her throat and kept her hand on her lap through out the movie, didn't even try to eat the popcorn. She did not want it to happen again because her tummy feels funny whenever she thinks about it.

The awkward moment was when at the end of the movie, both of the main characters kissed, she turned her head at her side, did not even bother by the fact that Taeyeon was just next to her and caught Taeyeon also did the same thing. Both of them actually felt embarrassed of the scene though she did not know why. Nonetheless, she quickly turned her head back to the screen while keeping her eyes closed.

When the credits had pulled off, she awkwardly stood up, fixed her shirt then walked outside quickly without waiting for Jessica. She fidgeted her fingers nervously when she saw the three figures walking towards her.

"You didn't wait for us, Tiff," Jessica's annoyed tone could be detected.

Tiffany smiled in apology.

Suddenly, Yoona's phone rang out of nowhere and she apologetically excused herself, leaving Taeyeon, Jessica and her in an awkward silence.

"So Taeyeon, which school you attend?" Jessica's voice broke the silence off and upon the question, Tiffany arched an eyebrow to her friend. Jessica just looked at her weirdly which reminds her that she did not tell Taeyeon's job to Jessica yet. She shrugged then looked at Taeyeon, also anticipating her answer.

As Taeyeon was about to say something, Yoona suddenly went to them. "I'm sorry but I have to go," Yoona said to them then turned to Taeyeon, "I'm sorry, unnie. Father said something came up and I have to go."

Taeyeon looked a bit taken but she just pats Yoona's head as an answer which Tiffany found it weird. If they were lovers, they would not act to each other like that. Taeyeon treated Yoona like Yoona was Lami, like sisters.

Then, Yoona turned back to her and Jessica, "Can someone give my cousin a lift? She didn't bring her car along and it's getting late to get a cab."

Tiffany took a minute to digest everything. Taeyeon was Yoona's cousin? She did not feel surprised at all but it makes sense now. Yoona was a genius and Taeyeon could be one too. Is the genius blood flows through them? And it also took a minute of her to watch Yoona walked away from them. She did not hear what Yoona said but the mischievous look on Jessica made her groan. She dragged Jessica away from the annoyed Taeyeon for a while.

"What did you say to Yoona?"

"Well, nothing much than a yes and Tiffany's going to give your cousin a lift," Jessica innocently smiled.

She really wanted to give her friend's head a knock but considering it's her birthday, she did not have a heart to do so. She just sighed inwardly then let Jessica led back to Taeyeon.

"So.. let's eat!"

"Bye Tiff! Bye Taeyeon!" Jessica excitedly bade her goodbye, leaving Tiffany and Taeyeon by the basement parking alone. To say Tiffany was awkward was an understatement. She did not know what to do ever since they had supper. Jessica was the one who mostly did the talking and Taeyeon also looked like she was having fun with Jessica while Tiffany could not get over the fact that Taeyeon only a jerk when she was with her.

She let out a sigh, "Come on. My car is at that side."

Taeyeon obliged then followed suit.

Tiffany stepped into her car rather awkwardly then waited for Taeyeon to close the door before she ignited the engine. She let out a dry cough then locked the doors as soon as Taeyeon closed hers. Well, it was late at night and she also afraid something bad would happen. Better safe than sorry, right?

When it feels like forever and the silence was killing her in, she turned on the radio. Though she was very a talkative person, she felt reluctant to strike a conversation with her neighbour. She knows she would be ignored and she was not in the mood to her the harsh words from her neighbour too so it was safe to say that she better kept her mouth shut to avoid them.

She also mentally cursed herself because she chose to watch the cinema that takes 30 minutes from her home and the fact that the songs from the radio she turned on played mellow songs just made her annoyed more.

"So, you're attending the same school as Yoona and even her friend. The world is so small, isn't?"

Tiffany was surprised and amused of Taeyeon's voice that tried to break the awkward silence. Well, at least she's not alone but she could sense a hint of sarcasm as Taeyeon scoffed but also a bit of surprised as well.

It was really true the world's small, she could not disagree to that because out of all people, she encountered with Taeyeon a lot. Fate must be laughing at her now.

"Hmm.. yeah?"

And that was the first and last conversation they had as Taeyeon was focusing more on her phone after that.

 _Pft, she's still a jerk nonetheless._

Tiffany pulled up the handbrake when they already halted in front of Taeyeon's gate. She unlocked the doors and watched as Taeyeon stepped out of the car, "Thanks."

Tiffany barely heard it if she did not scoot closer to give Taeyeon her phone. Though it was a simple and small "thanks", she could feel the sincerity and Taeyeon's nervous look gives it all.

"No problem," she beamed a bright smile because deep inside, she still wanted to be friends with her neighbour although she's a jerk, she could feel that Taeyeon was actually a very kind person. She did not know Taeyeon acting all cold-hearted with her but she was determined to find out.

"Hm... can I ask your phone number?"

She mentally facepalmed when she realized she actually said that out loud again.

"No," then a slam door was heard.

Well, at least she tried.


	8. Chapter 8

Tiffany groaned when she heard her alarm rang. Without moving any other parts of her body unless her right hand that diligently searching for her phone on the nightstand. She nearly, I repeat, nearly moved her body when she did not find the gadget but smiled in satisfaction when the alarm was turned off, probably because it was going to snooze for another 5 minutes but she could care less. 5 minutes was still precious for her sleep. She moved back her hand to find her Totoro doll then hugged it tightly.

Just as she wanted to doze off again, she felt something poked her bare shoulder. She did not sleep naked but her nightwear were all singlets. She did not like to wear shirt when she slept, it was very uncomfortable in her opinion. She ignored it and continued to snuggle against her Totoro.

But then again, her shoulder was poked again. Getting annoyed of the disturbance, she kicked the blanket off her but still keeping her tight grip on her Totoro. She opened her eyes slowly then tilted her head when she saw Lami, next to her bed.

"Unnie, you promised me."

She let out a yawn, still feeling groggy then ignored the girl unintentionally but her eyes widely opened when she saw the all-familiar LV case of her iPhone in someone else grip. She let her brain registered everything and she gasped in shocked when she saw Taeyeon and Lami. Moreover, they were in her room.

She jumped out of her bed then pointed at Taeyeon accusingly, forgetting the fact that she was still in her singlet (with no bra) and a very short shorts, "What are you doing in my room?!"

She watched at how Taeyeon asked Lami to wait outside for what, she did not know but she was still glaring to the shorter girl. When Lami was already outside, Taeyeon's annoyed expression did not go unnoticed but she did not feel intimidated at all. She was still pissed off that the latter disturbed her sleep.

After a week of torture of her lack sleep due to the project she was working on, she thought she could spend her day on her bed but Taeyeon ruined everything. And she even in her house, in her room. She was going to ask her mom for the explanation later.

"You freaking promised my sister yesterday to go shopping and what not and you even asked me that?"

With that, she frowned, "What?"

As long as she remembered, she did not even meet Lami yesterday. She tried very hard to remember yesterday's incident, starting from her new puppy, then kitchen, then her byun neighbour and-

"Shit."

She really did. It was when she took Prince then she met Lami while she was on her way back to her house and the girl whined over how much she missed her. She even promised to spend the whole day with the girl. She facepalmed due to her stupidity but she suddenly getting alarmed of something, "What's the time now?"

She snatched back her phone that was about to be unlocked and glared to Taeyeon then glanced at the clock on her phone.

 _12.30 pm._

She woke up late. So, the alarm at 12 pm was supposedly to be her alarm of Lami's day. She threw the phone on her bed then turned back to Taeyeon, the only person in the room.

"Look, I'm sorry. Can you tell Lami to wait for another 1 hour? Wait, that's too long.." she pauses as she crosses her arms, "15 minutes? No, 30 minutes? No, I'm not going to be done by that. Okay, 45 minutes. Tell her that."

She waited for the response from the other girl but her cheeks flashes in anger when she saw what the other girl was actually doing when she was talking.

"You byuntae! Get out of my room!" she hollered but not before grabbing the blanket and cover her body.

"Whaaa-"

And Taeyeon was thrown outside. She locked her door after that. She cursed the shorter girl under her breath. That stupid byun neighbour just gawking at her body shamelessly. She also scolded herself for being careless of her clothes. And do not remind her of how awful her hair looks like. She takes off her blanket and let it fell down on the floor then hurriedly go to the bathroom. She still need to spend her day with Lami despite everything.

When she closed her bedroom door, she could hear the children's song bellowed through the house. She just shook her head then headed to the stairs, taking a deep breath before meeting the byun neighbour of hers. She made her way to where the noises came from and flashed a toothy smile when she caught Lami staring at her.

The girl jumped off from the couch ecstatically then hugged her legs. She could only pat the girl's head though she could not hear what the girl mumbled against her legs. She decided to go with a casual outfit, a black t-shirt under her plaid shirt and a matching denim shorts. Her hair was tied into two pigtails. It was pretty hot outside so she played it safe.

"You look pretty today, little girl," she tapped Lami's nose playfully.

Meanwhile, Lami was in her tourist-mode with a cap, matching her pink shirt under her denim jacket and a pair of jeans.

"Thank you, unnie," Lami shyly hid her head against her neck.

Tiffany felt starving at the moment but she was bad enough to make Lami wait for her so she was going to pay her own action by not feeding her stomach.

Then, she turned her attention to her mother and her annoying neighbor that was still chatting with her mother and it looked like her mother also enjoyed chatting with the byun that made her pissed off so much.

"Mom, we're going," she announced then guided Lami to the door while she was thinking whose car she was going to use, it was either hers or her mom but she was even surprised when she was being dragged by Taeyeon instead.

"We're using my car," the shorter girl showed her car keys.

Tiffany swatted Taeyeon's hand away from her wrist, leaving the shorter girl questioned her action.

"You're not going with me, with us. No no," she deliberately shakes her head.

"Taeyeon unnie is going too," Lami voices out of nowhere.

Tiffany did not dare to retort back when she saw Lami's face that looked like about to cry if she commented something so she just shrugged then wore her sneakers.

"Let's eat ice cream!" Lami exclaimed at the back seat.

So, the seating goes like, Taeyeon's driving, Tiffany's next to her (Lami's order) and Lami was in the back but she would sometimes jumped from the back to Tiffany's lap.

Tiffany always loves ice cream but considering the fact that she had not eaten anything yet since the morning, she did not think ice cream would be good for her stomach. Eating ice cream when her stomach was empty like a field? Nope, if she wanted to stay healthy but seeing how happy Lami was, she could not say no to the girl.

Instantly, she checked for any food or crackers inside her bag since she always carry them around but sighed inwardly when she found none. She gave it to Jessica last night and she forgot to re-stock them back. She sunk under her seat.

"Ice cream is good but let's go to the cafe first, okay? You wanna meet Yuri unnie right?"

She heard Taeyeon's sweet voice, retorts Lami. She hid her smile when she heard how nice and soothing Taeyeon's voice blooming through her ears. At the same time, she mentally thanked the latter. When the car halted because of the red light, Taeyeon suddenly takes something out from the dashboard and gave it to Lami at the back.

"Play that but careful. It's mine."

Although Taeyeon's voice was stern, there was a hint of playfulness under it as she handed her iPad to Lami.

Tiffany turned back her attention to the view outside but soon, jerked a bit when a warm hand was placed on her thigh, "Hey."

Glaring to the culprit, she swatted the hand away.

"You haven't eaten yet right?" Taeyeon's softly asked her, as if whispering. Tiffany could not help but frowned, wondering why she acted like that but when Taeyeon glanced at Lami, Tiffany understood.

"Yes and don't touch me," she hissed.

Deep deep deep down in her heart, she actually felt touched of Taeyeon. Taeyeon actually noticed about that. Looks like she was not that jerk that she actually looked like. And she determined to know more about her mean neighbour more.

She breathed in the aroma of the brewed-coffee beans as soon as she stepped inside the small cafe. There were not a lof of customers inside, perhaps less than 10 but more than 5. She followed suit Taeyeon that went to the counter, holding hands with Lami. Unconsciously, she smiled at the sight.

The cafe was also located around her father's company but she commented nothing about it.

"You can sit there," Taeyeon pointed a table to her. "What do you want?" she added.

Tiffany blinked twice to believe that it was just a dream but she was snapped by Taeyeon instead, "Come on, I bet you're hungry already." Taeyeon sounded annoyed but Tiffany was more pissed off. And there she thought Taeyeon was acting nice to her already but still a jerk. She ignored her then went to the counter herself, greeting the worker, brightly. She ordered an iced blended chocolate then picked almost all of the items displayed. She smiled after she ordered and brought Lami along with her to their table.

Lami still played a game on the iPad which was the dressing game, typical game for a girl. Tiffany did not want to disturb her so while waiting for their drinks to arrive, she took out her phone from her bag and checked all the messages. Most of them were from Jessica then she locked her phone back.

"Two iced blended chocolate and an iced Americano arrived."

Tiffany chuckled by the waitress playful remarks, "Thank you, Yuri-ssi." She took a glance at her name tag and the name sounds familiar to her somehow.

"You're welcome and Lami, you're ignoring me."

Tiffany cocked an eyebrow when the waitress named Yuri turned her attention to Lami fully. She saw Lami put away the gadget and hugged Yuri, "Yuri unnie!"

And she remembered that Taeyeon did say something about meeting Yuri unnie _so this is the person._

 _Well, she didn't look that bad._

By that time, Taeyeon finally arrived with a tray that filled with Tiffany's favorites.

"Wow, you finished all of that?" Yuri asked.

Tiffany could only nod her head shyly. She was not kidding when she said she was starving anyway. She finished all the 4 types of Quiche by herself. That also did not include a slice of red velvet cake and also a slice of strawberry cake.

During eating, she also known a few about Yuri who was apparently Taeyeon's best friend since they were 15. Yuri also actually the owner of the cafe they were at. Yuri also did not finish her college year as she busied herself with the cafe instead. Taeyeon also helped her friend's dream job by giving a sponsorship too. Tiffany was even amazed of the information.

"Okay, now let's go. We have a fun fair to go. It's evening now," Taeyeon announced out of nowhere.

Tiffany rolled her eyes. She was just having fun talking to Yuri but Taeyeon always ruined everything. She scoffed but not before asking Yuri's number so that they could keep each other's contact. She really loved to make new friends and Yuri was not an exception. Yuri seems like a nice woman compared to her mean best friend anyway.

She bade her farewell to her new friend and exited the cafe alone because Taeyeon was being a jerk again, leaving her alone and dragged Lami with her. And to think that it was supposed to be her day with Lami, she felt unfair.

"So, which game would you like to play first, princess?"

For the umpteenth time of the day, Tiffany hid her smile and it was again because of how sweet Taeyeon sounds like.

"Haunted house! Unnie, I saw in movies that it's really great!" Lami explained while using both of her hands of how excited she was.

But not Tiffany.

She was not a fan of horror movies nor things and haunted house was one on her top list. She was thinking of backing out from going but Lami already dragged her and Taeyeon into the house.

Without her knowing, Lami actually moved away from her and went to Taeyeon's side, leaving her hand unlinked to anything. She gripped into her bag strap tightly and walked slowly behind the siblings. At first, she tried to stay calm on how scary and creepy the people were dressing as the ghosts but her braveness was thrown into the sea when a leg suddenly appeared on the ceiling which left her to grip whoever hand that was closer to hers.

She did not know who was it but she really wanted to thank the person really much because the person did not even bother to scold her when she snuggled against the person's neck.

 _Oh, screw my dignity._

She was still sticking to the person until at the end of the house. She breathed out in relief and cleared her throat, feeling like she lost her voice due to the screaming.

"Thank y- Taeyeon?"

Taeyeon arched an eyebrow at her, as if challenging her, "You are really clingy you know. What if the person you hugged is a pervert?"

She hang her head low, feeling embarrassed of what happened. So, the person who did not even bother to scold or push her away was Taeyeon? Fate must be really laughing at her right now.

"You are a pervert anyway," she mumbled under her breath. She had enough of lecturing. Her throat feels dry and Taeyeon would probably be mocking her again.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing, where's Lami?" she awkwardly looked anywhere but Taeyeon.

"She went to buy drinks there," Taeyeon pointed to where Lami was.

"Here," suddenly, the shorter woman takes off her jacket and gave it to her.

She frowned, "What?"

"Need to protect your legs from shivering, aren't we? Besides, there are a lot of hormonal teenagers here but if you don't want, I'm not forcing," Taeyeon shrugged.

Upon hearing what Taeyeon said, she felt warm. She felt very touched of Taeyeon's action. Without any second thought, she takes the jacket and tied them on her waist, "Thank you."

She saw Taeyeon walked to Lami after that but she heard the shorter woman said, "You're welcome."


	9. Chapter 9

Tiffany smiled from a far, watching how much affections Taeyeon gave to Lami. How she wished Taeyeon treats her like that too. Not long after, she saw Lami pointed at her and both of the siblings turned the attention at her. Although they were not really that far away from her, she still could not hear what they were talking about.

When she was going towards them as Lami already started waving at her, motioning her to come to them, she felt someone poked her shoulder from behind. She turned around and broke into a wide smile when she who it was, "Hey, Nick!"

It was Nickhun, a friend from the college. There was actually a story from the past about Nickhun and her. They had known each other ever since highschool. Nickhun had a crush on her when they were in senior highschool, he confessed right after the school halloween party but Tiffany kindly rejected him because she did not has any feeling for him so why accepting? At first, it was hard for Nickhun to move on, he avoided Tiffany at all cost for a month but not long after, he came to meet Tiffany with a girl in his arms and turned out it was a his new girlfriend named Victoria, Tiffany also did not know how he moved on so fast but yeah, that was pretty much of it.

Turning back to now, Nickhun flashes a grin, "Hi Tiff!" he pauses, "What are you doing here?"

Instead of answering his question, Tiffany scanned his surroundings, "Wait a minute, you're alone?" she was quite surprised to know Victoria was not by his side, knowing how protective Victoria would be whenever she saw her boyfriend with Tiffany together.

"Yeah, Vic isn't in the country now. She's in China," he replied, rubbing her neck as if he was getting awkward.

"I see and to answer your question just now, I'm having fun since that stupid assignment really makes me worn out for a week," Tiffany exasperately said. She rolled her eyes in annoyance, remembering the reason why she had her eyebags right then.

"Same goes to me, are you alone too?" Nickhun raises his eyebrow, knowing Tiffany, she never went out alone but then, he did not spot any of Tiffany's friends in the parade.

"She's with me."

Just like on cue, an arm suddenly snaked onto her waist and if it was a random stranger, she would totally throw a punch to the person's face.

Displaying her discomfort, she tried to get off the arm from her waist, "Get your filthy hand of me," she might be smiling but she was actually scowling to the person. And instead of letting it go, the person tightened the embrace and even pressed their sides together.

"Oh, I see then... See you in class!" Nickhun uncomfortably said when he felt the glare he received from the person next to Tiffany. When he saw Tiffany smiled and bade her goodbye, he made his way safely.

As soon as the guy disappeared from their sight, Tiffany removed the arm on her waist and turned to the person, "Why do you have to act like a jerk in front of my friend?!" she did not mean to shout but by the look of the people gives to her, she knows that her loud voice just made her gained a lot of attention.

The person in front of her, Taeyeon just coughed lightly as if signalling her of something especially with those pair of eyes that always looked at her and also her side.

"Unnie...," she heard the very soft and low voice says.

She mentally groaned when she realized that Lami was also with them and by the fact that Lami had never seen _this_ side of hers, the little girl had probably been surprised. Before she turned to her left side, she gave a glare to the young architect.

"Lami has asleep...," Taeyeon who was piggy-back(ing) Lami suddenly said to her. She halted her step and looked at the sleeping girl. "Yeah..." was only her short reply.

After much contemplating whether to buy some snacks or bring Lami back first, she mentally sighed because she was starving yet at the same time, she did not want to burden Taeyeon more so she suggested to end the day.

The young architect only nodded and they went back to the car right after that. She saw Taeyeon carefully placed Lami on the backseat and took a pillow on the hood of the car. She fastened her seatbelt and waited for Taeyeon to ignite the engine.

"Can I turn the radio on?" She asked politely while looking at the owner of the car that was still trying to fasten her seatbelt. "Um.. what?.. yea yea," came to the reply without looking at her. Tiffany rolled her eyes and snickered. She helped the other girl fasten the seatbelt, did not realize that their faces were too close to each other.

When she was done, she lifted her head and felt her lips touched something very soft. She widened her eyes, realizing what had happened. She backed her head a bit and was going to apologize very deeply as she already knows the other girl's personality but her words were stuck inside her throat when she saw Taeyeon's cheeks turned very red. A very rare sight to see. And instead, "Oh shit, I'm sorry."

Taeyeon was the one who apologized instead of her. The young architect was even avoiding her eyes.

She could only shake her head lightly while muttering, "It's okay" and it was enough for Taeyeon to ignite the engine and they were off to go.

The atmosphere was very awkward as the radio had not even turned on yet but Tiffany only smiled like a crazy teenage girl as she kept replaying the crimson Taeyeon in her head.

 _I'm going to regret this in the future but she's so freaking cute._


	10. Chapter 10

She was awoke when she felt a poke on her arm. Groaning because of the disturbance, she rolled her body to the other side and tried to cover her eyes of the sun rays.

"Unnie," she heard someone said. "Wake up."

Displaying her displeasure, she opened her eyes and instantly glared to the person in front of her.

"You are so dramatic. You slept like only 15 minutes and you're giving me that look already?"

Tiffany just puffed and looked at the backside where Lami was giggling alone but covered her mouth when she was caught. She just grinned dorkily at Tiffany.

"Come on, let's go. I'm hungry already," Taeyeon broke Tiffany's attention and with that, they all stepped out of the car.

When Tiffany begins to gain her fully consciousness, she started to grin when she realized where they were, _Mc Donald's._

Have I ever told you that Tiffany's from California? She was born in the said country and moved to Korea when she was 15 year-old. Yes, she's one of the Californian girls so she really liked, wait scratch that, she loves American food especially Mc Donald's. For once, she wanted to thank the mean neighbour of hers for bringing them there because she was actually being banned for eating junk foods. Her parents were very strict about saying those foods would not be good for her body. She tried to bribe her parents once because she was craving but they just ignored her like they always did and it pissed her off. Since then, she never went or eaten any American foods anymore.

Back to now, she turned her attention to Taeyeon who had her eyebrows rose up, probably taken off by her stupid smile.

Tiffany, being ecstatic of the situation, did not care about anything as she clung her hand to Taeyeon's arm, "Let's go!" She flashes a smile then dragged the other together, heading towards the entrance.

After she placed her order, she turned to her right side, silently asking Taeyeon what's hers and Lami's but she was flustered when she saw Taeyeon avoided her eyes because just now, she was definitely sure Taeyeon looked at her. She just shrugged and after Taeyeon had already placed hers and Lami's orders, Taeyeon suddenly coughed that sounds forcefully and she could not help but glance at the girl. "You can let go of your hand now, I want to pay," Taeyeon suddenly said.

Right then, she wanted to dig her own grave. She mentally cursed after she removed her hand from Taeyeon's arm with an, "Oh." She awkwardly coughed as she received the look from the worker. She did not know how did her hand even there. She rubbed her arm and jolted a bit when someone suddenly slides their hand onto hers. She looked a her side and was met with Lami's cute grin that made her grins too. She tightened the grip and turned back her fully attention in front.

"Hey, you shouldn't have paid for me too," she frowned when she saw her bills also included into Taeyeon's bills. She felt very unfair because firstly, it was supposed to be hers and Lami's day but Taeyeon had to ruin it. And lastly, Taeyeon paid for everything as if she could not afford them and it freaking pissed her off.

She was expecting for an answer but Taeyeon just ignored her and picked up the tray instead.

For the umpteenth time of the day, she huffed in annoyance. Reluctantly, she carefully guided Lami out from the crowds and followed suit the other girl. Once they had reached the table that was far away from other people, she helped Lami first then she seated down and tried very hard to control her anger towards the architect.

One thing that she realized was that, the architect had avoided her eyes as she distributed their food and drinks. She cocked an eyebrow because of the action. "Unnie, unwrap this for me please?" Lami broke the silence and gave the burger to her. When she wanted to take the burger from Lami, Taeyeon also wanted to do the same thing so as the result, Taeyeon's hand was right above Tiffany's. Tiffany's face turned into bright red instantly because of the contact, "Oh, sorry." She heard Taeyeon said and let go of the burger.

After the long dinner they had, in Tiffany's opinion because it was the most awkward dinner she ever had, they headed back to home. While their on the way, for the second time of the day, Lami had fell asleep again at the back and just like a dejavu, the car breaks into an awkward silence again as the radio did not turn on.

Tiffany never liked quiteness, she was always the one who initiates a conversation but when she's with Taeyeon, it was like her mouth suddenly gets stiffed. And Taeyeon on the other hand, did not feel like wants to talk to her at all so she just let the silence engulfed in.

She sighed deeply then took out her phone from the bag. She did not even check her phone for the whole day and it freaked her out when she saw she had 12 missed calls from non other than her best friend, Jessica. Afraid that she might be missing out something important, she called back the number and waited for the person on the other line to pick it up.

 _"Oh, look who's calling me... The bestest best friend that didn't pick her best friend's calls."_

Tiffany rolled her eyes on the sarcastic remarks. Jessica Jung was not your typical type of friend.

"Geez, I was busy okay. Why did you call me?"

 _"I'm busy now. Will call you back later, bye."_

And just like that, Jessica just ended the call without waiting for her goodbye. _Her revenge of getting me back is so stupid._

She locked her phone when she had already done checking all the messages that were not so important to reply instantly and put it away.

"Who's that?"

She was taken aback by the question and looked at the architect, "I'm sorry? Whoever that was, it's none of your business." She cocked an eyebrow, as if challenging the architect. It was on time too that the car halted at the traffic light when the architect gave her a look, "Don't use that words on me."

"Oh, so you're saying you can use that on me but I can't use it on you? You're joking right?" She retorts back. If Taeyeon wants a fight, then she's going to get it. Tiffany Hwang did not know the word "losing."

They had a glaring contest until a car horn breaks it because the light had turned green.

"I don't know why you're so mean to me..." Tiffany mumbled to herself. She was tired, she just wanted to make a friend but she gets rejected most of the times. She just stared at the window and sighed again.

When the car halted, she quickly unfastened her seatbelt. She wanted to head back to her home as soon as possible so when she tried to unlock the car door, it gets locked again. With a tired face, she faced the architect, "Whar are you doing?"

"Give me your phone," was the reply she gets. It was not a question, it was a command and she did not know why, she actually gave her phone without any second thought. She watched as Taeyeon punched the numbers here and there and it took a few seconds for her to know what was Taeyeon doing.

Taking the phone after she was done, Tiffany leaned forward and planted a kiss on the cheek, "Thank you." And stepped out of the car then ran towards her home like a lightning, missed out the stupid grin that plastered on Taeyeon's face.


	11. Chapter 11

Tiffany woke up with the brightest smile ever in the history of Sunday mornings, if it was even still considered in the morning since she woke up at noon. She opened her eyes slowly, adjusting to the sun rays coming from her huge window then sneaked a peek at the pink clock on the wall under her comforter.

Instead of getting up for the day, she rolled on the other side of the bed meanwhile her hand was searhing for her Totoro doll. Once she found it, she brought it closer then hugged it tightly.

Well, that was until her mother suddenly barged into her room then shook her body, "Miyoung? Are you awake already? It's noon! Wake up!"

Relunctantly, she removed the comforter from her body and in husky voice, "Yes mom, I'm up." She opened her eyes and rubbed them lazily before turning her attention towards her mother.

It looked like her mother was going somewhere since she was dressed in a very formal attire. And to her, there was only one main reason why would her mother dressed in formal; office meeting but the fact that it was Sunday did not make any sense to her. So where would her mother be going then?

"Wake up and get ready, we're going to the office after this," her mother commanded, walking to her study desk and tidy up the desk a little bit.

"What?" she asked in English. It was totally not new to her to have such meetings in sudden but it was Sunday for God sake.

"No question, get ready now. I'll be waiting downstairs," her mother sternly said which shut her mouth instantly. When she saw her mother finally walked to the door and went out from her room, she sighed heavily.

 _And there goes my Sunday..._

Fixing her hair for one last time, she then grabbed her purse and phone on the nightstand. After she was satisfied with her appearance, she headed downstairs and went to the kitchen to grab a quick 'breakfast'. Since she had not eaten breakfast nor any meals yet, it was more better if she grabbed something quick instead of having an empty stomach to the office. As she had always known, the meeting would always take around 2-3 hours.

"Done? We're late," her mother announced after she checked the time.

Tiffany nodded vigorously while still munching the sandwich her mother had prepared for her quick 'breakfast'. When her mother already walked to the main door, she gulped the glass of milk and followed suit.

While they were on her way, she sneakily looked at her mother on her side. As if her mother had another pair of eyes, "What is it, Miyoung?" she voiced out, staring at her.

The said girl mentally facepalmed herself for getting caught. Well, since her mother was the one who asked her, then she better dropped the question. "What's with the sudden meeting on Sunday?" she curiously asked.

"I also have no idea, something about introducing and explaining the new project to you. Remember the last one he said? The one with the weird company's name?" Tiffany nodded, "They arranged the meeting quite late actually. Because the chairman is in the country today, they take the chance to arrange a meeting." her mother added.

As she wanted to say something, the chauffeur announced that they were already arrived. She stepped out of the car carefully and smoothed her pencil skirt, not realizing that her mother already in the lobby.

She fastened her steps while mumbling her displeasure. She could not even run in pencil skirt but her mother looked like she did not care about the problem as she was wearing a pants instead.

Thankfully, she safely made her way inside the elevator with her mother. It had not been 5 minutes yet but she was already sweating. She's got no one to blame unless herself because she knew, if she had already gets ready as soon as her mother woke her up, they'd probably in the meeting room by now.

As soon as the elevator stopped, both of them hurriedly made their way to the left, where the meeting room was. Taking a deep breath, she held her head up because _it's Stephanie Hwang time in action._

"We are really sorry we're late. Traffic jams," her mother announced as soon as the door opened. She bowed a little and walked to her seat, on her father's right side meanwhile her mother would sit beside her.

When she looked around the room, smiling at her father's employee, she noticed there were some new faces especially those who sits on her father's left side.

"Miyoung, come in front," she suddenly heard her mother whispered to her. She broke her trance and realized that her father was looking at her. She grinned in return and mumbled, "Sorry." Her father just shook his head.

When she was already in front, standing beside her father, she kept on smiling and continued to scan the people inside the room and her eyes suddenly caught someone that she really recognized. She widened her eyes in surprised.

"This is my daughter, Stephanie Hwang. She'll be the one who's in charge of this company in the future," her father said in proud but it looked like Tiffany had other job to do aka glaring to the person who ignored her presence in front as the person was staring into the space.

"Stephanie, introducing you to Im's Buildinations, the company we're collaborating with, and their staff," her father added again.

Then, she was asked to settle down and proceed with the introductions of each of the staff of Im's Buildinations.

"This is the chairman, Mr. Im Youngjin," the said man waved at her playfully which she also replied the same thing. Oh, how much she'll like working with the chairman in the future.

And the introductions continued till the 4th person, "And lastly, our young architect here, Kim Taeyeon. I heard she's of the same age as you."

Right at that moment, she felt suffocated as Taeyeon gave her a smile, the smile that she always gave to Lami.

"Hello, Tiffany-ssi. I'll be anticipating in working with you in the future," Taeyeon stands up and did a bow.

Oh well, Tiffany loves playing games. She was not going to lose either.

"Likewise, Taeyeon-ssi," she flashes her eyesmile.

Yes, she'll definitely be loving to work with them in the future.


	12. Chapter 12

After the meeting which took approximately 3 hours, she waited for the others to leave the room along with her mother and father. When the room already left with the three of them, she only stared at the ground below, afraid of her parents' intimidating gaze on her.

"Miyoung, you know I don't tolerate late comers right?" Her father broke the silence. She could only nodded in reply, still looking at the ground.

"Nevermind, since you've been informed a bit late today, I let it pass," her father continued.

When she heard her father's soften his voice, she instantly lifted her head up and was met with her parents' playful expressions. Looks like she's being tricked, again...

"Daddy!" She huffed in annoyance and crossed her arms.

Her parents laughed, "Anyway, do you know Taeyeon? She called you 'Tiffany' instead of 'Stephanie'." Her father frowned.

Just when she was about to reply that Taeyeon's their new neighbor, she saw her mother nudged her father. She saw her father took a look at his wristwatch, "You can go first. Just the same chauffeur before. Your mom and I have something to discuss," her father said while getting up from his seat, same as her mother too.

She raised an eyebrow, "We're not having lunch together?" Forgetting the fact that it was nearly evening.

"Lunch at 5 pm in the evening? Sorry dear, we need to go now. Take care okay?" They walked towards her and planted a kiss on her forehead.

She pouted as she watched her parents left the room, leaving her alone while thinking of what she was going to do. She shrugged, thinking she should just visit Jessica at her home right now. Besides, Jessica wanted to talk about something anyway.

She slowly gets up from her seat then smoothened her skirt. The skirt was quite tight since it was a new one that her mother had bought for her. The old one already went into the dustbin so she had no other choice than wears the tight one.

She made her way towards the door and got the shock of her life when she saw another figure stands beside the door. She nearly shouted in suprised, nearly.

"You scared me!" She finally said after calming down. She glared at the person.

The other person just shrugged instead.

To say Tiffany was not annoyed must be lying. She did not forget the fact that Taeyeon did ignore her in the room just now. She just walked away and ignored the presence of the architect that also followed her to the elevator. As she was waiting for the elevator, she played her phone for a while, checking the notifications.

"Myoung?" she instantly tore off her eyes from her phone when she heard the familiar voice.

"Oppa!" she widened her eyes and hugged the said person, did not aware of the glaring eyes of another presence at the place.

"What are you doing here? Don't tell me you've started working already?" the guys gives a playful expression, raising his eyebrows.

Tiffany laughed, "No, I'm not. Had an important meeting with Daddy and the staff today. How about you?"

"I-"

"Miss Hwang, the elevator," a voice suddenly came out of nowhere, cutting off the guy's sentence.

Tiffany was suddenly bewildered by the sudden request. Nonetheless, she just played with it, dragging along the person she was talking to inside the same elevator with Taeyeon. There were only the 3 of them in the elevator.

"I actually forgot a document in the office so I came here to get them," the guy finally continued.

Her mouth formed an 'O' and nodded in understanding. But then, the guy just stared at her and it made her raise her eyebrow, "What?"

Realizing something was off, she mentally knocked her head.

"Oppa, this Kim Taeyeon, the architect of our company's partner for the upcoming project," she nudged Taeyeon to meet with the guy. "And Taeyeon, this is Choi Siwon oppa, she's the HR manager of this company," Tiffany beamed excitedly. "And also my oldest cousin."

Soon, both of them shakes their hand and smiled stiffly, especially Taeyeon. Right then, the elevator 'ding' and they carefully stepped out from the elevator.

"Okay Myoung, I have to go there. See you again," Siwon ruffled his cousin's hair playfully.

Tiffany hugged her cousin one last time before bade her farewell. After Siwon was long disappeared from her sight, she turned around and crossed her arms, "What do you want?"

Taeyeon's presence did not go unnoticed though. She knew the architect was still behind her but she had enough of the mysterious.

"Wanna grab something?"

"Eyes up here, Miss Architect," Tiffany sternly said.

After she agreed to Taeyeon's invitation which they spent an hour talking over the company and the politics at the nearest cafe. It was a serious kind of talk, none laughing or what so ever, just talking over a few top entertainment companies, especially SM entertainment, whose stock was increasing because of Girls' Generation upcoming comeback and other few things.

It was somehow bored when Taeyeon suddenly talked over the politics, which she did not fond of so they ended their high tea there and went out for a walk instead while wearing formal attire, yeap very cool indeed.

Back to now, they were already seated down on one of the benches near the Han River. She also noticed that Taeyeon always looked at her tight skirt and it really made her uncomfortable. In a good uncomfortable way such as, her heart was feeling very uncomfortable.

"I think that's enough. Let's head home now," she announced when Taeyeon ignored her statement just now.

"Why do you have to wear such a tight skirt..." she heard Taeyeon mumbles. She did not know why but her face turned warm instantly when Taeyeon gave her blazer to cover her legs.

"You do know that you're the only one who noticed it right?" she chuckled.

Thanking the architect because of the sweet gesture, she suddenly remembered of something, "I haven't given you the jacket right?" She frowned.

"Nope."

She took a mental note to give back her jacket later on. Now that she realized, it felt like Taeyeon was slowly accepting her. Ever since yesterday, the architect already gave her phone number, and today, she even takes her to a cafe and a walk. It was a good change.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Taeyeon's curious eyes were staring into her.

"May I know what's with your sudden change of attitude?" the question suddenly slipped out of her mouth without realizing. Afraid that Taeyeon would probably be angry by now, she closed her eyes while imagining being yelled again by the evil jerk.

"Not telling," Taeyeon's playful tone made her opened her eyes. She tilted her head in confusion, why is Taeyeon becoming shy all of sudden?

"I thought we were friends..." she tried to persuade. She was curious, nothing else.

"Well, I think I'm starting to like you."


	13. Chapter 13

Tiffany widened her eyes in surprised of the sudden confession coming out from the so-called timid person. She stared hard at Taeyeon though the other person was trying to hide her face from her, she could see the crimson cheeks so well. Feeling awkward of the sudden confession, she cleared her throat and stood up almost instantly, "I think we should head home now. I have to do my assignment and school is tomorrow."

She had noticed that it was almost 7 in the evening so it explained the chilly breeze that hit her every now and then. She handed back the blazer Taeyeon lent to her and Taeyeon's stiff figure didn't go unnoticed. She sighed.

It was not like she did not like Taeyeon back but somehow on back of her mind, Taeyeon probably meant that she was starting to like her as a friend which she did not why but she felt a little bit disappointed but okay, maybe much disappointed because as much as she wanted to ignore it, Taeyeon attracted her. Not in some kind of friends' way, but more like involving the heart.

At first, she really wanted to make Taeyeon as a friend but blame the little evil jerk that made her attracts to her in every possible way and she hated it very much. Especially when Taeyeon started to show her true self whenever she was with Lami.

For instance, she did not want a pure friendship with Taeyeon and that's the end.

She walked towards the architect's car slowly, patiently waiting for Taeyeon to unlock the car first. Once the sound of unlocking had been heard, she quickly opened the door and stepped inside the car. She waited for a while till Taeyeon gets into the car and ignites the engine with silence.

The awkward silence had been engulfed ever since they both gets into the car. The ride of going home had never been so long for Tiffany. Sometimes, she would give a subtle glance to the person beside her who had been wearing the same expression from 30 minutes ago.

"You-"

"Don't."

She was bewildered by Taeyeon's sudden cold voice telling her to stop talking. She sinked deeper in her seat, it was getting worse than she actually thought.

When she stepped out of the car, she turned around and thanked the architect while flashing her eyesmile though the other person was not even sparing a glance at her. She was rather disappointed but it was her own fault too so she closed the door and watched the car accelerated to the house next door.

For the umpteenth time of the day, she sighed and carefully opened the small gate and walked inside the house. Once she opened the door, her leg was then met with the small fluffy dog as the dog was excited to meet her. Smiling when she saw those two round puppy eyes, she threw her bag on the couch carelessly as the bag then fell down from the couch, she squatted down and lifted the puppy up.

"Hey there, have you eaten yet?" She nuzzled her nose with the puppy's cute nose.

Prince replied by licking her face. She scrunched her nose because of the unpleasant saliva of his. She placed the puppy down and reached for some tissues on the table in the living room. Once she was done wiping, she walked to the kitchen, noticing that her parents were still not at home yet. She was starving but there were no more food in the fridge and by the fact that she didn't know how to cook didn't help at all.

At the end, she made a hot chocolate but not before dropping her blazer into the laundry bag that was placed near the bathroom. She walked back to the living room, retrieving her bag and headed to the kitchen once again to grab a snack and also her hot chocolate. But as she wanted to go upstairs, Prince suddenly barked which caught her off guard.

She sighed again then placed her stuff on the table near the stairs then went back to the kitchen and gave Prince his dog food. Once she had settled down with Prince by giving a lot of food and also his milk, she scurried back to where her stuff were at and went upstairs peacefully.

After she was done with placing her hot chocolate carefully on her study table, she instantly pulled off her uncomfortable tight skirt along the way, leaving her with only her white shirt and her panty.

But one thing she totally forgot was that, her mother tends to left her curtains open as what she said, "Let the sun comes in, I don't like dark," so she also forgot to close the curtains. When she turned around, she was shocked to find her curtains were still opened, displaying her the room next door too (her neighbor's room). But before she closed them, she switched on the lights first. Right before she was going to close them, her phone suddenly rings. She walked to where her bag was then searched for the device.

The caller ID displayed that it was her mother calling. She picked it up instantly, "Hello?" she sat on the edge of her bed, crossing her legs while glancing to the slinding windows, afraid the owner of the room caught her in her lack of clothes. " _Miyoung?_ "The other line paused, " _Have you eaten yet?_ " her mother continued.

"No no, not yet," she answered nonchalantly. Feeling uneasy of the open curtains, she walked to close them and at the same time, she widened her eyes as she saw who was the person from the room next door.

"Shit," she mumbled loudly, forgetting the fact that she was still on call with her mother.

" _Why are you cursing at me?_ "

She flinched of the cold tone of her mother and replied her immediately, "I didn't do it on purpose, I'll call you back. Love you, bye." She ended without even listening to her mother's reply. She knew she was going to be scolded later but her attention was more to the person next door.

It was nothing but crucial. Taeyeon caught her in her lack of clothes and the architect also gave a dirty smirk at her. She huffed and closed the curtains as quick she could with her red face.

Not long after, she heard a beep from her phone that she threw on the bed. With a thought that it was from her mother, she dragged her feet to where the device was and read the text.

 _From: Taeyeon next door_

 _I really don't mind if you leave your curtains open ;)_

 _pps, i still hate you, dont talk to me_

If the dirty text content wasn't exist, she would say Taeyeon was acting very childish. She shook her head when she read the "pps". Without any second thought, she clicked the name and pressed "Call Taeyeon next door".

She made her way slowly to the sliding windows, peeked through the curtains as the room next door's windows were opened. Within two seconds, a "Hello" could be heard.

She smiled as she saw Taeyeon was sitting down on a chair when she answered her call.

"Well, you know what? I'm starting to _like_ you too."

And she could also see the smile that plastered on Taeyeon's face which she certainly sure that Taeyeon might also _like_ her in that way.


	14. Chapter 14

Tiffany groaned in frustration as soon as she stepped out from the house, finding there were no sign of her father's driver. Realizing her stupid mistake that her parents were not even at home last night made her stomped her feet like a spoiled kid. The gardener who saw her slowly walked to the other side of the house, afraid of the princess of the house's wrath. It was a very good day to her.

Firstly, she woke up very late. Her stupid alarm did not ring as how she expected it to be because her phone died and she also forgot to charge it last night. She also did not think that school was tomorrow therefore, she did not mind waking up late. She internally blamed a certain person whom she called last night and made her stayed up late, talking particularly over nothing.

Second, her parents did not come last night. Apparently, the meeting they said yesterday ended up in Busan, which was quite far from Seoul so they had to stay in a hotel last night. It annoyed her to the point that she did not even grab dinner last night and also, her mother could not wake her up.

Usually, if her alarm did not work properly just like today, her mother would be the one who woke her up but both of them did not work so she was more pissed off.

Thirdly, she thought that she could order her parent's driver to drive her to school because as you can see, if someone wakes up late, they wouldn't have any time to dress properly and that also assigned to Tiffany. In her current state, her hair was still untied, and since it's Monday, the concept for today would be formal. Her tie was still hanging around her neck and under the black blazer would be a white-unbuttoned shirt.

She huffed and went back to retrieve her own car keys. But, as she was about to open the front door, a familiar voice caught her attention.

"Hey!"

She turned around and met Taeyeon's confused face from the next door. It was totally not the time to do so but Tiffany had no choice but to gawk at the shorter woman. She was undoubtedly looking so so good with the pink tie.

If one thing you should know about Tiffany Hwang was that, she loves pink very much. Everything pink in the world is _hers_.

"Tiffany?" Taeyeon waved a hand in front of her. She broke out of her trance from that.

Feeling embarrassed that she had been caught gawking, she faked a cough and hoping her hair helped in covering her blushing cheeks.

"May I know what did you do to the workers? They look so terrified," Taeyeon raised an eyebrow and pointed at where some of the workers gathered around and they really looked terrified.

Knowing well that she was going to be very late to attend her first class, she sighed inwardly. "I'm sorry but I'm late and I need to go," she said apologetically. She gave one last smile to the flustered architect.

"Wait! Let me give you a ride."

Tiffany cursed out loud while making her way to the hallway along with Jessica. "That old man is really testing out my patience. It was not like I woke up late on purpose!" she rambled again. Jessica just kept her mouth shut, knowing well she should not disturb when HellFany mode was on.

Tiffany was still rambling when Jessica suddenly stopped abruptly which reminds her they had finally reached their lockers. She took out the some books for the next class and kept the previous ones.

Jessica also did the same.

After they were done, she was still rambling about non other than the Professor Snape itself.

When Taeyeon dropped her off at the campus, she was certain that she could make it on time but she literally forgot that Professor Snape always comes early in the class therefore, when she slowly opened the class door, she knew she was in deep trouble when the whole class was too focused on the white board which means the devil had arrived.

She shut her eyes and opened them again when she explained her reasons why she was late. Just some white lies, some and not all. Perhaps her car broke down was not a good idea so she also added that she woke up late. Once she slipped that out, she could see the smokes coming out from the Professor's ears. The fact that the Professor even said he was going to tell her parents did not help at all. She tried to persuade the Professor to not involve her parents but the Professor was too pissed off to listen to her.

"So, anything happened with your neighbor?"

Jessica's question brought her back to Earth. By now, they had made their way to the cafeteria to have their lunch.

Thinking about her particular neighbor made her unconsciously smile. Her cheeks felt warmth but it cools down immediately when Jessica suddenly placed her palms on both of her cheeks.

"Y-yah! What are you doing?" she yanked away Jessica's hands from her face.

"Your face is somehow red and warm," Jessica stared at her suspiciously.

Tiffany avoided her best friend's stare then searched for an empty table. She spotted one near the corner and dragged her best friend who was still looking at her in suspicion to the table. "You owe me a big explanation," she heard Jessica's mumbling and let out a chuckle.

"You two are an item now?"

Tiffany shook her head vigorously while still munching her strawberry cupcake.

"An item what? Who?"

Yoona suddenly came into the scene, holding a tray that filled with her meals. Tiffany shook her head and Jessica just shrugged, they were already immuned of their friend that eats like no tomorrow. They even wondered how could Yoona's stomach handled the food well.

"No one, Yoong. No one," Tiffany wiped her mouth after finished eating her cupcake. The cafeteria's cupcake would never let her down. Her attention now fixed at Jessica as she saw her best friend was going to open her mouth, she sent a-don't-tell-her glare but it was Jessica she was talking about so the woman did not let the glare affect her.

"Tiffany has a crush on your cousin," Jessica blurted without even blinking an eye. Yoona choked on her chicken when she heard that and instantly searching for her drink. Once she was done, she set aside her tray and widened her eyes. Setting aside her tray means she did not want to be rude for the food, weird Yoona indeed.

"What?! Taeyeon unnie?!"

And so, knowing well she could not escape from the question, she deeply sighed. Even if she did not want to, she still had to tell Yoona because that kid was really persistent of something. She might as well asking Taeyeon by herself so with a heavy heart, she told the story of Taeyeon and hers although she skipped last night's part. She did not want to embarrass herself more even though Yoona was also a friend of hers, she was still after all Taeyeon's cousin. She did not want to give a bad impression.

"She treated you coldly last time?" Yoona finally questioned out. She was awfully quite when Tiffany narrated her story which was odd, knowing how talkative Yoona was.

Nonetheless, Tiffany questioned nothing and nodded. But somehow, Yoona's question made her realize that back.

It was true that Taeyeon was very cold and mean to her. She was certain she did not do anything embarrassing on the very first day they met. She furrowed her eyebrow and turned at Yoona again, "Why?"

Yoona slowly set back her tray in front of her, "Ding dong daeng? Ask yourself." she continued her eating as if nothing happened.

Yoona's triumph smile somehow made her curiosity grows.

"You okay?" Jessica nudged her elbow.

She just nodded and still eyeing Yoona that looked suspicious with the smile she had on her face.

"Are you sure you don't need a ride?" Jessica asked for the umpteenth time of the day.

Tiffany huffed and unconsciously placed her books on the locker rather harshly, "Sorry and no, Jessie," she paused then her eyes caught the familiar BMW parked in the parking lot. "I gotta go," she locked her locker then pat her flustered best friend.

Actually, in the morning when Taeyeon sent her to the campus, the architect asked (forced) to pick her up as soon as her classes finished. It did not help by the fact she was literally late for today's class and Taeyeon threaten her by not unlocking the car door if she disagreed so she was making her way towards the car.

She stepped inside the car timidly, still shy and could not believe that Taeyeon kept her promise.

"Sorry, did I make you wait? The class ended late today," she said while fastening her seatbelt.

She noticed that Taeyeon was still busy playing her phone when she stepped into the car, perhaps checking her emails or something but the other woman put away her phone when Tiffany looked at her.

"You're done?" The architect asked her while smiling. Tiffany nodded and stared outside, hiding her suddenly blushing cheeks when she saw the cute dimples appeared along with the smile.

They were in silence for a good 5 minutes before Taeyeon strikes a conversation from "How was your day?" to "Let's have an ice cream" real fast. Tiffany was actually having a very tired day but she did not have any heart to say no when Taeyeon was beaming excitedly about this particular ice cream shop so she said yes. Besides, she wanted to ask about something too. Her curiosity had been rubbing on her ever since her lunch with Yoona.

She was too absorbed in thinking till did not realize Taeyeon had already pulled up the hand break. She also unfastened her seatbelt when she saw Taeyeon unfastened hers.

"Let's go."

By that, she stepped out from the car and closed the door. While waiting for Taeyeon, she walked in front of the shop. She could not help it but frowned as she stole a glance towards the shop, it was crowded. Perhaps because it was a hot day, people dropped by at the shop since the shop was near the kids' playground. To whoever own the shop, they were surely brilliant. They knew very well where was the suitable place for an ice cream shop business.

When she saw Taeyeon made her way, she unconsciously smiled for what reason, she did not know. She just thought that a smile was the only thing she could do from afar. She clenched her fist tightly, afraid her hand would make their own way to pinch those cute cheeks of Taeyeon when she grinned. She shook her head.

Taeyeon suddenly pulled her closer when a group of bulky men made their way towards the exit. She flustered all of a sudden by the contact. They had never been this closer before and she really hoped Taeyeon did not hear her heart beats too fast for her own liking. She could even feel Taeyeon's breath on her neck.

"You okay?" Thankfully, Taeyeon stepped back a little to give a space and looked at her worriedly.

"Don't worry, I'm fine," she gave a smile.

"That's a relief then," she heard Taeyeon sigh in relief, "Those people are thrice than our size, I'm afraid they'll hurt you."

She blushed when Taeyeon looked at her when she was talking.

She faked a cough and quickly made her way towards the door, wanting to hide her crimson cheeks from the architect.

Tiffany unknowingly glared at the waitress who was sickeningly annoying to her. The waitress was pretty, she admitted but that did not mean that she had to flirt with the customers and Taeyeon also looked like she did not mind at all.

"And you, Miss?" The waitress asked her.

"Same as her," Tiffany crossed her arms across her chest, still glaring at the waitress though the waitress did not show any displeasure on her face.

When the waitress smiled and thanked them then went away, Tiffany looked at the person in front of her. Taeyeon was having this smug face but Tiffany ignored her. She was not in the mood, totally.

"I want to ask something," she started, putting a serious face on. When she saw Taeyeon urged her, she continued, "Why did you treat me so harshly last time? Did I make a mistake to you? You met Jessica for the first time but you treat her better than me."

Taeyeon's expression fell down. Tiffany could not explain but it hurts her to see Taeyeon looking like a lost child. As if something's haunting her.

"Well, it's now or never isn't?" Taeyeon chuckled bitterly.

She just kept her mouth shut. Should she take back her question? She mentally hoped that their ice cream would come soon but by the amount of the customers in the shop, the chances was really thin.

"You reminds me of somehow I knew from the past," she heard Taeyeon said as the architect stared at the table, hard. "I- She was-"

Taeyeon's sentence was abruptly interrupted when the waitress suddenly placed their ice cream on the table.

"Thanks Wendy," Taeyeon gave a smile to the said girl. Tiffany never had the urge to straggle someone so badly till today happened. She watched at Wendy's backside till the poor girl was not in her sight anymore.

"She's my cousin," Taeyeon suddenly said out of nowhere.

"I-I'm sorry?" Tiffany was flustered by now. She innocently took a sip her drink. It was a Chocolate Blended with bubbles drink. It was very delicious. That was definitely her thought as she tried to ignore the playful look Taeyeon gave at her.

"Where was I?" she heard Taeyeon mumbled soon after that. " Right…. she was a bully who happened to be my ex-crush."


	15. Chapter 15

In the age of 14, Taeyeon had learnt the fact that she was born as a genius. Although at first she did acknowledge herself as one, she still did not want to believe what her family members had been told her especially her parents. Her father would always tell her that his father was born as a genius. By the family genes, he said but Taeyeon never bought his bulls. Furthermore, her mother always told her the same crap too, by saying her mother was also a genius. She was only 10 so she thought her parents were only making up the stories.

But that was before she met Im Yoona, her partner in crime in the family. She was a family member from her mother's side. She learnt that she was indeed a genius by Yoona itself.

It happened when her parents brought her over to Yoona's 9th year-old birthday. At that time, they had never met each other yet so both of them did not know each other's existence very well. She still remembered how awkward it was because Yoona had the opposite personality. She was a very timid person but Yoona was a bubbly kid. So when their parents left them alone, Yoona only did the talking. She was very ecstatic that she actually had a cousin. Yoona was quite talkative for a 9 year-old kid, Taeyeon personally thought.

Since the party had already over, there were no more other people other than them in the living room. Taeyeon tried to strike a light conversation though she could already guess which grade Yoona was but Yoona's answer caught her off the guard. Yoona actually skipped her actual grade. When she asked why, Yoona proudly answered, "I was born as a genius, unnie!"

Yeap, that was how she knew her parents were indeed true, they were not lying. For instance, she skipped 3 years of her actual grade. Only a fool can't see that and she admitted she was once a fool.

For a good education, she studied overseas.

Since she was still a kid, she really loved to draw especially buildings, tall towers, houses and such, one of the perks of being a designer's daughter. So without any second thought when her parents asked her which one she would pursue her study in, she beamed excitedly, "Architecture."

Being raised and bred in a very stable family, money was never a problem. Her mother worked as a fashion designer, owning few shops in South Korea and her father was one of the company's directors so they sent her to study abroad. She was very delighted to know she was going to study abroad. Not to say that she wanted to leave her birthplace but more like she wanted to be an independent person.

Her parents were very protective of her till the point they would not even let her play outside. She stayed inside her home and only came out when they also went out. It badly affected her because she became an introverted person. She could not socialize with people easily.

Just like any other cliche story again, a genius, would always turn out as a geek or known as a nerd. Taeyeon was not excluded. She wore glasses, her hair was also not your typical style of hair but she could only care less. For her, she would rather to be alone instead of having fake friends so she never had friends when she was in school.

But it changed when she studied abroad.

The college was an international college so in her 1st year which suddenly turned out as her 3rd year because again, her results seems to amaze the director. She even passed all her test in flying colors.

During her 3rd year, she did not meet any friends too. Everyone treated her like she was an invisible student and she never bothered a bit until she came. She was a Korean and the name was Kang Chaeri. Kang Chaeri who happened to be a Law student.

Kang Chaeri was definitely not your typical girl. Why? Because she was a bully. In fact, the first time Taeyeon met her was when she bullying up some girl from the other department right behind the cafeteria, where Taeyeon would always sit during her lunch time. Having no friends made her technically a loner, no one was even going to sit with her.

It was too soon to happen when Chaeri suddenly stopped what she was actually doing and walked towards at her slowly. For a moment, she thought something terribly would happen but she was caught off her guard when the bully suddenly squatted down and smiled sweetly at her, "Hi, I'm Kang Chaeri. You must be a Korean?"

She thought that Chaeri was just some bully who was going to bully her or she was doing her for a bet but when she gets to know the other girl, Chaeri was actually feeling happy because she never met any Koreans in the college.

To Taeyeon, Chaeri was very beautiful. She never doubted her sexuality and she happy to say that she was a bisexual. She bends and in this case, she screwedly bends for Chaeri, who happened to be her best friend.

Chaeri was a very understanding friend for Taeyeon but oh well, she never had any friends before. On the other hand, Chaeri had like thousands of friend but neither of them liked Taeyeon because she was ugly, they said. Chaeri went berserk whenever someone told Taeyeon was ugly and her friends were not also excluded. Each one of them had to apologize to Taeyeon because they did not want to make Chaeri upset. Chaeri was a really good person indeed, in other way, she was anything that Taeyeon was not but she was still a bully nonetheless.

The older girl -yes she was older than Taeyeon by years-, had taken care of Taeyeon very well which Taeyeon thought she also felt the same way. So when they had their semester break, Taeyeon booked Chaeri's favorite restaurant and planning to confess her feelings but turned out to be a disaster night when Chaeri's expression turned into disgust as she splashed the water to Taeyeon's face while saying, "You're gay!"

Yes, Kang Chaeri happened to be homophobic.

It took her days to finally show up to her classes but everytime she walked through the hallway, people would throw her things, mock her and even had a sticky note pad on her shirt with "I'm gay". And guess what, it hurts her the most when her once called best friend or the one she almost called her as her girlfriend even high five-ing to the person who sticked the note pad on her shirt. She clenched her teeth and wiped her tears, did not forget to give her last glance to the smirking stupid Kang.

After her last word, she calmly scooped her last ice cream.

"Taeyeon….." she heard her name was saying faintly.

She looked up from her empty bowl to face the woman in front of her and tensed when she felt her left hand was being hold tightly. She tried to look through Tiffany's eyes but could not find pity, instead, she found admiration and adoration.

She finally let out a smile because she _knows_ Tiffany wouldn't ever be like _her_.


	16. Chapter 16

There were million of thoughts running inside Tiffany's head but she never dared to say them loud. Instead, she kept on biting the straw while staring at the empty space and that caught Taeyeon's attention.

"Is something wrong?"

Taeyeon squeezed her hand. She instantly stop biting the straw and looked at Taeyeon. Taeyeon was creasing her forehead, looking so worried and that made her guilty.

She shook her head lightly, "May I know how did you meet Yuri? You didn't mention her though."

Taeyeon let out a chuckle and the frown on her face had now left, "I purposely didn't mention her." Taeyeon paused, calling the waitress for the bill. "Should we continue this by strolling at the park?"

And Tiffany could not say no to that.

It was the first semester break Taeyeon ever had. She made a promise with her parents she would be visiting them on the first semester break so there she was, standing at the airport while waiting for her father to pick her up. Her mother had to take care of a client so she asked her father to fetch her from the airport.

While waiting for her father at the side of the airport, she took a sip of her Iced Vanilla Latte that she brought from Starbucks. But when she wanted to take the second sip, a lady who looked around her age, stood beside her all of a sudden. It was even more creepy when the lady looked at her intensely.

The lady's skin was a bit tanned, she was also taller than her. The lady also had a shoulder length black-haired. She was pretty, Taeyeon concluded but that did not help the fact that she was still a creep.

Clearing her throat, she carefully asked, "May I help you?"

Eventually, the lady finally looked at her then grinned, "May I know what drink is that?" she pointed at Taeyeon's Iced Vanilla Latte.

Taeyeon shrugged before answering, "Iced Vanilla Latte." She took another sip after that and the weird lady was still staring.

Without any second thought, Taeyeon brought the drink right in front of the lady's face, "Do you want some?"

Once Taeyeon asked that, she did not need an answer because the drink was already gone just in a few seconds. The lady's eyes were shining as she tasted the drink. She only sipped a little then gave it back to Taeyeon.

"It's good," the lady commented.

Taeyeon on the other hand was flustered, she took back her drink and eyed the weird lady. "Of course it is."

"I wonder how did they brew the beans, it taste very nice," the lady commented again while licking her lips, probably still tasting over the coffee.

Taeyeon could not understand more so she politely excused herself but the lady did not let her go, yet. "Hey, I'm Yuri! What's yours?" the lady named Yuri, beamed excitedly while extended her right hand.

And that was how they met, weird lady who was actually of the same age her, also a sick lover of any particular types of coffee.

Apparently, Yuri was actually waiting for her aunt who was coming from Japan. While waiting, she caught Taeyeon holding a cup of coffee. She was curious of what coffee was that since the color was kind of different from any of she encountered. So she boldly made her way to Taeyeon and went straight to the point.

Soon after, her father came and they reluctantly parted their ways. She found Yuri was a very kind-hearted person. After much contemplation, she eventually gave her number to Yuri, with a hope that Yuri would contact her back.

It was the 3rd day of her break. She had no other things to do unless lazing around her room along with her little sister. As usual, her parents were still working so she was the one who took care of her sister.

When she was watching her sister drawing something with crayons on each of her hands, she received a text from an unknown number. It didn't state any more details other than,

Hey! Let's meet up! ;)

To say Taeyeon wasn't taken aback must be a joke so as she was typing her reply regarding of who was the stranger, the same unknown number sent a text again.

It's Yuri by the way

And that made her deleted her reply and typed a new one.

Yuri decided to meet up at a cafe, which Taeyeon didn't surprise at all, knowing how crazy fan of coffee Yuri was.

Since there were no one left at the home unless her grandparents, she decided to bring along her sister too. She believed that Yuri was a good person to start a friendship with. She was still a minor so she had to ask for her father's driver to drive them at the cafe which was just few blocks away from her place.

Once she stepped out of the car, still holding into Lami's hand. Lami, being a curious kid, she kept on glancing here and there while excitedly stomped her feet.

"Unnie, go there go there!" she pointed at the place where the playground was at.

Taeyeon just chuckled lightly, "Later on, okay? We're going to meet unnie's friend." she squatted down and caressed her sister's puffy cheek softly.

"Taeyeon!"

She instantly gets up and looked around to find the owner of the familiar voice. She smiled in reply, "Hey. This is Lami, my sister." she introduced the smaller girl who hid behind her, feeling shy because of the tanned lady.

Yuri squatted down, "Hey there. I'm Yuri unnie." she waved friendly.

Taeyeon sighed in relief as Lami started to warm up. It was also actually her sister's first time of knowing others except her family members so she was anxious of her sister's reaction.

Soon after that, they entered the cafe and sat at the corner. Yuri sat opposite of the siblings and being a very good friend she was, she also recommended which coffee should Taeyeon tried and for Lami, she recommended the Strawberry Milkshake. She also said that it was her favorite cafe and started telling the story how did she know about the cafe etc etc.

Once their drinks arrived, the story did not end there. Yuri also started to ramble about herself. She was studying about Office Management which was not her cup of coffee. Other than that, her parents already died when she was still little, leaving her under her aunt's protection. Taeyeon also did tell about herself only a little bit because Yuri was just so excited over the fact that Taeyeon was studying overseas. She keeps on asking about how the environment of the said country and also the coffee.

Their conversation had to halt because Lami was already feeling sleepy. With a reluctant heart, Taeyeon excused herself and told Yuri to stay in contact.

"What? That's it?" Tiffany whined.

Taeyeon chuckled lightly. "Of course not, but I'm tired already. Besides, it's getting late. Let's head home," she said as she stared at the sunset.

It was almost 7 in the evening when Taeyeon had finally stopped talking. They spent an hour in the park and now sitting on the bench provided.

"Sigh, I want to know about- Wow! The sunset is so pretty!" Tiffany beamed happily as she turned her attention to the scene in front of her.

Taeyeon on the other hand had already turned her gaze towards the person next to her and smiled, "You are pretty."


	17. Chapter 17

Tiffany tried to stay awake during the lecture but her eyes and brain couldn't operate with each other so she didn't know she fell asleep until she felt someone pinching her thigh.

By the time she lifted her head high, the whole class was staring at her including the professor. Yeap, no one other than the Professor Snape.

"I hate him," Tiffany muttered under her breath as she swept the dried leaves in the garden with Jessica sitting peacefully on the bench.

"Can't blame him. I mean, you literally slept during the whole class," Jessica shrugged her shoulders as she was paying attention to her phone.

"I was really sleepy, okay!" Tiffany huffed in annoyance as she continued doing her work.

The devil, as Tiffany said, punished her with cleaning the garden by sweeping the dried leaves. It was civil enough, because at least she wasn't asked to clean the toilet.

"That reminds me. You didn't tell me what happened yesterday. Saw you entered this one BMW car. Your new sugar daddy?" Jessica asked with that stupid smirk Tiffany hated so much.

As the revenge, she just kept her mouth quiet while continuing doing her task. Only left with a few more areas and she's free to go. But then, Jessica being Jessica, she threw a stick at the poor friend.

"Yah! What's that for!" Tiffany rubbed her sore arm. The stick was a hard one.

"Whatever, you better tell me or I'm gonna throw a branch at you," Jessica accusedly pointed at her. Her phone was set aside, ready to listen to her best friend's story.

Tiffany sighed. She knew her best friend really well. "Here goes nothing then..."

"I'm home..." she loudly announced once she opened the door.

She didn't get any reply which was odd since her mom always greeted her back. She then shrugged and something caught her eyes. There were two other different pair of shoes. They were not hers nor her parents so she slowly tiptoed to her room but her father caught her beforehand.

"Miyoung?"

Reluctantly, she faked a smile then turned around and it turned into a frown when she saw who were the guests.

"Miyoung, come here," her father gestured her.

Being an obedient child, she just followed suit with small steps because their guests were non other than...

"You know Taeyeon, right? And Mr. Kim of course!" Her father beamed excitedly. Why? Tiffany also didn't know why.

She timidly bowed her head and beamed a small smile. She couldn't meet Taeyeon's eyes yet, especially after what happened last night. The reason why she stayed up late, and fell sleep during Professor Snape's lecture.

"Where's mom, daddy?" She whispered lightly right after she sat beside her father.

"In the kitchen. Now that you're here, can you please accompany Taeyeon to the garden please? She said she wanted to explore the garden and I have something to discuss with Mr. Kim here," her father sweetly smiled.

She was flustered by the sudden request but she just nodded anyway, bringing Taeyeon to the garden.

"Did you sleep well?" Taeyeon was the one who broke the silence between them after 3 minutes of sitting in the garden.

Still avoiding the other's girl eyes, she timidly shook her head. "Fell asleep in the class," she mumbled but still loud enough for Taeyeon to hear it.

"Let me guess... Professor Snape's class?"

Once Tiffany nodded her head, Taeyeon's ahjumma laugh echoed in the garden. Tiffany pouted, "It's your fault. I had a punishment because of you."

As soon as the laughter died, Taeyeon looked at her. "Sorry, it was really nice to talk to you last night till I forgot that you have a class today," she smiled in apology.

Just when Tiffany wanted to say she was kidding because she felt guilty upon seeing Taeyeon's face, her mother came along holding a plate of biscuits and two cups of tea. She placed them on the table and just like on cue, a small white maltese suddenly came.

"He was mad when he saw your shoes but he couldn't find you," her mother explained.

Tiffany picked the little puppy up and let him rest on her lap, "Sorry, baby. Just rest well now."

When her mother was out of her sight, she gestured Taeyeon to have a drink and make herself at home.

"Don't you have work today?" She asked, realizing the architect didn't wear her working attire.

"Nope," replied Taeyeon as she munching the gingerbread biscuit.

Not knowing what topic should be talked about, she just pet Prince and let the silence engulfed them.

Once thing she knew about Taeyeon, she liked, well no, she loved the silence. She could go on without talking for 2 hours yet she was still fine while Tiffany, 3 minutes of silence was equivalent to torturing to her. She liked to converse a lot but whenever she was with Taeyeon, she didn't know why she lost the ability to.

"Do you have plans tomorrow?"

Tiffany instantly looked up. Taeyeon raised her eyebrow, waiting for an answer.

Plans? She have her individual assignment that needs to be handed in by next week, her test will be the next day after tomorrow, hanging out with Jessica right after school tomorrow yet, "No, I don't have any."

 _"What?! But you promised me!"_

Tiffany placed the phone away from her ear as she heard the lion roaring.

"I know, I'm sorry!" She apologetically said.

 _"I can't believe this. You're ditching me because you found your woman. Don't call me again. Our friendship is over, bye."_

And the line was off. Tiffany groaned in frustration. This was getting worse. Now, she's regretting her decision of saying yes to Taeyeon's plan.

Sighing while massaging her temple, she unlocked her phone then went straight writing a message for Taeyeon.

 _To: Taeyeon_

 _Hey, sorry. Can we canceled our plan tomorrow? Something came up :(_

Though she knew Jessica was joking about ending their friendship, she still felt bad because she made her plan with Jessica before Taeyeon's so it was fine to ditch the architect rather than her own best friend. Besides, it had been too long since they went out.

She closed her eyes, thinking of how to apologize to her best friend when her phone rang.

Reading the caller's name, she accepted the call without any second thought.

 _"Hello?"_

"Hey..." she tiredly replied _._

 _"Are you okay?"_ Taeyeon's voice sounds worried and she couldn't even be guiltier.

"Yes, sorry to make you worry."

 _"I'm glad then. I thought something happened," a pause, "What's with tomorrow?"_

Tiffany was contemplated to tell the truth or make up some white lies but since Taeyeon already made a call to personally ask why, it was better to tell the truth.

"Actually, I have made a plan with Jessica tomorrow. Sorry..."

There was a pregnant silence in the other line, _"It's okay. Don't worry. We can go out next time."_

"But I wanna go out with you too..."

 _"I'm sorry?"_

 _Damn, did I say it loud?_ She mentally remind to knock her head on the nearest wall after this. Just then, an idea suddenly striked her.

"How about you hang out with me and Jessica tomorrow? We're just going to shop, that's all," she excitedly said. It was really brilliant, she admitted. Why didn't she think of that before anyway?

But, the silence on the other line eats her up. Her confidence level dropped down quickly as she said, "You know what, that was such a stupid idea. It's okay, I guess we can go out next time. Good night."

 _"Wait! I'm up for it,"_ Taeyeon voiced out.

Tiffany was surprised, "No, it's okay. I don't wanna force you or something."

 _"I'll pick you up after class. That's the end. Good night."_

And the line was off for the second time tonight. Without her, replying anything.


	18. Chapter 18

Early in the morning, Tiffany had already waited for her best friend to show up at their lockers. She woke up earlier than usual and even asked her parents to drop her off at school.

It was not their first fight, but different from others, Jessica really seemed pissed off with this one. Last night, she tried to call her but her calls were all rejected. Her text messages had only been read too. Usually, it was easy to soothe her best friend just with a, 'I'll buy a Gucci bag' but this time, it didn't work at all. To say she wasn't nervous must be lying.

She bit her nails while leaning on hers and Jessica's locker. Jessica wasn't a morning person so it was really an understanable that her best friend still hadn't turned up at 7.45 am though their class would be at 8 am.

But not long after, her mouth broke into a big smile when she caught her best friend walking.

"Ice princess mode is on. Red code, red code."

She caught the other students said while making her way to her best friend. Instead of getting scared by the statement since Jessica's infamous nickname had been too long to be used, she braced herself and pretended to be tough outside. It really seemed like her best friend was disappointed at her.

"Jessie!" She exclaimed happily but got ignored by her best friend. Jessica just walked pass by her then unlocked her locker.

Still not giving up, Tiffany quickly went towards her best friend, afraid that Jessica might leave her hanging again.

"I'm sorry..." she muttered under her breath, but still loud enough for Jessica to hear it.

She heard Jessica sighed.

She again tried her luck by giving a backhug then tighten it.

"You know I hate it when you're being mushy like this."

Tiffany smiled, "I know. You can't stay mad at me too long anyway."

Jessica turned around and crossed her arms, still looking annoyed as ever. "You better tell me that our day out is still going on or you're gonna say goodbye to this friendship."

Instead of answering, Tiffany just lightly took out some books from her best friend's locker then locked it. She handed the books to her annoyed friend and starts holding their arms, making their way to the class.

"Of course it is," she replied shortly.

Jessica might be her bestest best friend but she's still intimated by the ice princess. She must be lying if she said Jessica's infamous cold glare didn't take a toll at her anymore but beats her, just imagining it made her body shivered.

Jessica was very excited of their day out because right after their last class ended, she was already dragging Tiffany out of the school, heading to her car.

Carefully, Tiffany slid her wrist out from her best friend's tight grip and that earned her a glare. "What are you doing?"

"Actually... can Taeyeon join us?" Giving the awkward grin she had ever managed to pull off.


	19. Chapter 19

"Did I hear it wrong or you're actually asking me if Taeyeon could join us?" Jessica squinted her eyes.

Suddenly, the ground was really mesmerizing that Tiffany couldn't help but stared at it really hard.

"Don't tell me that she's already here?" Jessica asked again. "Ignore my question again and you'll really bid this friendship good-"

A familiar sound suddenly cut off her friend's off. She whispered a "sorry" then takes a look on the sender's name before read the message.

It was from Taeyeon, informing her that she had already arrived.

Feeling flustered, she tried to look around the car park and instantly spotted that familiar car. After the confirmation, she sheepishly grinned at Jessica.

"Jessie, I know it's fool of me asking Taeyeon to join with us without your permission but trust me, both of you will get along," she begged.

But Jessica was still glaring at her.

This time, she's using her strong weapon which she knows her best friend wouldn't dare to say no to, "Please? Do it for me?"

After she feels like hours, Jessica heaved a deep sigh. "You know I really hate it when your eyes turning round like that, aren't you?" She motioned Tiffany's eyes using her finger. "Come on, she's here already right? Let's go."

Tiffany should've known. She should've known her friend would be asking weird or even nonsense questions to Taeyeon but that small detail suddenly had been forgotten as she was too excited to go out with her two important persons.

She could see Taeyeon was squirming uncomfortably under her seat.

Ever since Jessica and her got into the car, Jessica was bombarding her with a lot of questions. Jessica was a very bold person so the questions she asked weren't that pleasing either.

So far, the questions she asked had Taeyeon's straight answers but somehow, this one was a bit too much. Tiffany could say.

"So... when are you going to ask Tiffany to be your girl friend?"

Knowing well her friend really likes to tease her, Tiffany just rolled her eyes and ignored the girl at the back. The talkative Jessica could only appear if the subject aka Tiffany Hwang was there.

But seeing Taeyeon uncomfortable was the last thing she could do. She cleared her throat before trying to change the subject, "Jessi, I saw Suho talked to you during recess. What does he want?"

"Are you trying to change the subject here, Stephanie?"

She heard Jessica's teasing voice. She pretended she didn't hear anything but then she saw the familiar shop in her view. She threw a look at Taeyeon.

"I think we need to have a coffee first before we go?" Taeyeon turned the engine off then wiggled her eyebrows, playfully.

Tiffany let out a laugh, "Yes. I'm craving for croissants too."

"Pig Fany..." she heard Jessica mumbled before she stepped out from the car.

Tiffany tried to sniffle her laugh as she watched the scene unfolded in front of her.

"Did that barista really try to hit on me or I'm just imagining things?" Jessica exaggerated.

Taeyeon had already picked up her order and went to search for a vacant table on the second floor so it left with Tiffany and Jessica downstairs, waiting for their drinks.

Apparently, the barista as her friend said or known as Kwon Yuri tried to flirt with Jessica behind the counters while preparing and serving the drinks. Yuri even tried to give a few winks to her friend which her friend thought that the barista was giving the winks to a customer behind her.

Tiffany just shrugged and even silently asked Yuri to hurry up because she was afraid Taeyeon would be waiting for them.

Right after a few minutes, their names were called so they went to take the tray on the counter.

"That barista is such a creep," she heard Jessica whispered under her breath.

She just shakes her head at Jessica who was still eyeing Yuri from the corner of her eyes then looked at Yuri while mouthing a "thank you." Yuri just shrugged and gave a smile in response.

Once they've seated, Jessica slowly sipped into her drink while looking around the place. "This place is awesome. The drink tastes really good but the barista is a creep."

The cafe wasn't that packed like the last time they went so it was kind of quiet. They were the only customers on the second floor. The blasting radio was the only thing they could listen to.

Tiffany whom was still munching her sardine sandwich choked as she heard Jessica's last sentence.

"Hey, you okay?" Quickly, Taeyeon handed a drink to Tiffany, who sits in front of her.

Tiffany coughed then drank it slowly. Right after she's done, she laughed heartily while clapping, a habit of hers that won't probably die off soon.

Meanwhile, Taeyeon and Jessica were looking at her weirdly.

"You're saying that creepy barista is your best friend?" Jessica asked, while gasping.

Tiffany saw Taeyeon nodded.

After she died from her laughter, she explained the whole thing to Taeyeon and that also made Taeyeon's infamous laughter echoed through the whole floor too.

"Mind you, Jessie. She owns this place," Tiffany added.

Jessica just rolled her eyes as a reply then excused herself to the ladies room, leaving Tiffany with Taeyeon.

It was awkward for the both of them at first. Last night's incident suddenly playing inside her head so she really tried hard to hide her cheeks which by now, she knows it's going to turn into her favourite colour by now.

"It's not what you think."

Taeyeon's voice broke her out of her trance. She frowned, feeling confused by Taeyeon's statement.

As if Taeyeon could read her expression, the architect added again, "You know... the question Jessica asked... in the car."

It was amusing. Amusing to her because Taeyeon looked so shy then it hits her, the question that made Taeyeon squirmed uncomfortable. So, Taeyeon was talking about that?

She reached to Taeyeon's hand on the table then gave it a light squeeze, "Hey. I didn't think anything at all. Jessica was just teasing you, okay? Don't think about it much." She let out a smile.

"I just don't want you to think that you're just _someone_. I want you to be more than that," Taeyeon was now giving a tight squeeze to their hands.

Tiffany felt warmed. Never had anyone made her feel content just by a cliche sentence.

"Ehem ehem."

Both of them turned their head to the voice and was greeted with Jessica crossed her arms while tapping her foot, looking annoyed and disgusted.

"I just went to the toilet for 5 minutes yet you're already being sickeningly sweet," she rolled her eyes. When she saw the two didn't even try to get off from each other, she snickered. "Faster please, we don't have all day. And you owe me a handbag, Tiff."


	20. Chapter 20

As they made their way downstairs, Tiffany saw Yuri was already in her casual wear, making her way to them. She could feel Jessica's hand that suddenly gripped into hers, rather tightly. She nudged at Taeyeon and Taeyeon just shrugged in reply, totally had no idea what would happen.

"Hi, Taeng. Hi, Fany," Yuri greeted them as she gets closer.

Taeyeon and Tiffany also greeted her in reply while looking at Yuri weirdly. Tiffany could tell something's fishy with Yuri's sudden approach.

"Mind introduce me to your friend here, Fany?" she wiggled her eyebrows.

Tiffany laughed out loud, finally registering what's happening. Soon after, she composed herself when Jessica pinched her arm. It wasn't that painful but enough for her to let a scowl then rubbed her arm to ease the pain. She gave a glare to her friend.

"Jessie, Yuri. Yuri, Jessica," she introduced them shortly. She freed her arms from Jessica then went to Taeyeon. She didn't forget to stick her tongue out to annoy her friend more while dragging Taeyeon to the table at the corner.

"Does it hurt?" Taeyeon asked worriedly once they had seated down.

She looked at her confusedly. She didn't understand what Taeyeon meant until the architect pointed to her arm, "I saw Jessica pinched you quite hard."

Tiffany stared at her. Never once someone cared her that much. She didn't know Taeyeon caught Jessica pinched her because it was quite oblivious to anyone but to know that Taeyeon saw it, her heart felt warm. Plus, it was only a pinch from Jessica.

She gave a sincere smile then lifted her arm up, showing a redness area near her elbow, "Don't worry, it's nothing severe."

She saw Taeyeon gave a nod then they looked back to where the duos at. Tiffany just shook her head while watching the scene unfolded. Jessica maybe looked like she was pissed off, but Tiffany knew better than that. It's only a façade. Tiffany knew Jessica's ideal type very much and she swore Yuri fits perfectly.

"Jessica looks pissed," Taeyeon chuckled.

"You were like that once with me too," Tiffany side-commented. She was only joking but the look on Taeyeon's face screamed the opposite. Quickly, she cleared the statement out, "I'm sorry. Don't take it to heart please? I was just joking."

"No, you're right. I was such a jerk," Taeyeon sighed.

How much Tiffany wanted the ground to eat her up right now. It was ugly. The situation was getting uglier. The gloomy look on Taeyeon made her guiltier than ever.

"Hey, I was joking okay? Let's not talk about it anymore. I'm sorry?" Tiffany softly said. Even if she had to cross the ocean just to take back her words, she willingly would. God, how much she hated herself right now.

"It's not your fau- hey, why are you crying?"

Tiffany didn't even realise that she's crying until Taeyeon pointed that out. She wiped her tears harshly while waving in dismissal, "Something got inside my eyes."

"Yah! What did you to Tiff?!" Jessica yelled from afar, catching all the attention in the café. If Tiffany could exaggerate, she'd say the way Jessica walked was like there were flames around her. "How dare you made her cry?!" Jessica continued again.

Tiffany could only roll her eyes. Jessica watched too much dramas, she liked to exaggerate so much. Looking at Taeyeon's terrified face, she chuckled. "Stop the drama, Jessie. You're attracting too much attention," a pause, "And to answer your question, she did nothing. There was something went inside my eyes." She lied again. She was not going to tell her friend that she got teary eyes because of her foul mouth. She'd get teased by her friend for years.

She saw Taeyeon was giving her a look, but she pretended like she didn't. She was too ashamed of herself. It's still childish to her though she's the type that would cry even over a smallest thing.

"So, Jessica-ssi, is it okay?"

When did Yuri even with them anyway?

Tiffany threw a weird look at Yuri, "What is?"

Yuri grinned widely, "Mind if I join you guys? Jessica-ssi says that you guys are going somewhere? I'm getting bored here anyway."

She looked at Taeyeon and apparently, Taeyeon also shared the same look as hers, _disbelieved_.

She tensed when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around and was met with a pink giant teddy bear. She instantly crossed her arms, knowing well who was behind the bear.

"TaeTae wants to say sorry because she makes you cry," the pink giant teddy bear said, covering its eyes.

"Ew, you guys are sickeningly disgusting," came across the shop.

Tiffany turned her head to where the voice was and didn't forget to glare at the culprit. Jessica really had to ruin the mood, wasn't she?

After Yuri's shameless self-invitation, they agreed to tag along the barista although Jessica's whining about how unfair it was because it was supposed to be hers and Tiffany's day out but the two suddenly joined too. Tiffany even discussed with her about how rude it would be to turn Yuri down since she looked so excited when Tiffany said yes so, her friend had no other choice.

Now, they're in a shop somewhere in a mall. Tiffany was looking through the clothes when the pink giant teddy bear suddenly greeted her.

"Tipani," the pink giant teddy bear said again. This time, the hands were no longer covering its eyes, revealing a big round pink pair of eyes. A rare colour to be seen in a teddy bear.

"Tell TaeTae that it's not her fault," Tiffany finally replied.

As she expected, the pink giant teddy bear was placed aside then revealed the person she had fond with.

"Then Tipani should stop ignoring TaeTae."

Tiffany frowned, "When did I ever ignore you?"

Taeyeon lifted the pink giant teddy up. "In the car. I asked where we should go but you just ignored me while looking so pissed off," she pouted.

And Tiffany frowned once more, while thinking hard about it then something strikes her. "Jessie pissed me off in the car. I'm sorry, I didn't know you were talking to me. I thought that question was for Jessie," she retorted. She helped Taeyeon carried the teddy bear to the counter. "And you're buying this for whom?" she pats the big butt of the bear.

"What do you mean? I'm buying this for you, of course," Taeyeon handed her card to the cashier.

Tiffany widened her eyes in surprise. It felt like Taeyeon had done too much to her already. She didn't want Taeyeon to think that she's only after the architect's money although she knew she's also able to purchase it.

"Yah! Kwon Yuri!"

A yell woke her up from her trance. She turned to look at her best friend whose face had already turned into tomato. From afar, she could see that Yuri was also with her friend. Once Taeyeon had already done, both went to Jessica and Yuri. They're curious as why Jessica yelled Yuri's name.

"What's going on here?" Taeyeon asked while looking at Jessica then Yuri.

"Your best friend is such a pervert! Ugh!" Jessica puffed in annoyance.

Tiffany looked at Yuri and caught something. Yuri was holding a red lingerie and it clicked her right away. She smiled teasingly, "I think I agree with Yuri this time. You'll look amazing in it, Jessie."

Jessica always teased her so, she wanted a payback.

"You're dead, Tiff!"

And that made her laugh out loud.

"Trust me, Tiffany will also look good in it," she heard someone's whispering.

"Shut up, Yuri! Now isn't the best time to talk about it," another voice whispered.

"Oh, come on. Don't tell me you didn't fantasize about her body? It's not the Taeyeon I know."

"What about it?" she stopped walking, making Jessica who was beside her stopped too.

As if knowing they were getting caught, Yuri's pupils were already shaking, same goes to Taeyeon's. "Uhm… no. It's nothing. Yuri was talking about her dogs, right Yul?" Tiffany saw Taeyeon nudged Yuri. She crossed her arms, "And one of her dogs named Tiffany?"

"Can we stop talking and find somewhere to eat already? I'm hungry, Tiff," Jessica suddenly whined.

Tiffany couldn't argue anymore because what Jessica said was right. She was starving. The talk could wait but her stomach couldn't. Before she faced in front, she looked at Taeyeon and Yuri in seriousness, "We're gonna talk about this later."


	21. Chapter 21

Tiffany let out a teasing smile when she shared a contact with Jessica. Jessica could only let out a groan and rolled her eyes when she saw it.

"Well well, look who's 'sickeningly sweet' now," Taeyeon said as she set her butt down. She had just come from the ladies' room when she saw Yuri fed Jessica a slice of cake, their dessert.

"You shut up," Jessica snapped and that made Taeyeon and Tiffany giggled more.

Tiffany just ignored her best friend's remark and ate her cake in silence. She suddenly remembered about something important.

She cleared her throat before decided to speak, "What did you guys talk behind us? I heard my name." She back and forth looking at the duos, waiting for the answer.

"Didn't I tell you we're talking about her dogs? Right, Yul?" Taeyeon answered nonchalantly though her heart was actually beating in nervousness.

"Yeah, and one of the dogs named Tiffany?" Tiffany cocked an eyebrow. She squinted her eyes at Yuri, "What is it, Yuri?"

The said person gulped in terrified. She suddenly regretted tagging along with them, but not really since she did it because of Jessica.

"Hmm… yeah. Dogs… we were talking about dogs," she stammered.

Now, it irked Jessica's attention. "I don't buy your reason," she deadpanned.

Tiffany wasn't the type of person who let go off things that easily. She's a determined-person.

"Okay, I'll tell you, but! Don't blame me. Yuri started it first," Taeyeon butted in.

It's better if she be honest about it. Besides, she knows Tiffany wouldn't give up asking them and it's not a big deal. After all, it's not her fault though.

"Yuri said you'll also look good in lingerie," she said in one breath.

"I'm sorry?" Tiffany wasn't blinking an eye. Her face turned red in a split of second once she registered Taeyeon's sentence.

"I can't believe you're that kind of person, Yuri-ssi?" Jessica asked, disbelieved.

She thought the barista was different, but she thought wrong. She even dared to say such things about her best friend.

"Woah woah, hol' up! It was meant to be a compliment, okay! I didn't go further than that!" Yuri defenced back. She was terrified of the looks Jessica and Tiffany given to her.

Well, Taeyeon was holding back her laugh.

"Today was fun," Tiffany said once they've arrived in front of her gate.

After they went shopping, which she's probably become broke because of the Gucci bag Jessica wanted, they went to grab an ice cream then dropped Yuri at her shop and sent Jessica home.

"Yeah, same. I enjoyed it too," Taeyeon gave a smile that shows her chin dimple.

Without any second thought, Tiffany bluntly said the first thing that appeared in her head, "Can I touch them?"

Once she realized what she said, she widened her eyes in surprised and mentally facepalmed herself.

"Touch what?" Taeyeon asked her back.

She could see the confusion in Taeyeon's face. Although she was kind of glad that Taeyeon didn't know what she said about. She heaved a small breath.

"No no no, it was nothing," she dismissed. "Hmm, thank you for today and I'm really sorry if Jessica said something stupid to you. She's naturally annoying," she chuckled.

Taeyeon also let out a chuckle then shook her head, "No, she didn't and thank you for today too. I had fun," Taeyeon sincerely smiled.

She didn't know what to reply so she just nodded then unfastened her seatbelt. There was one thing lingering on her mind, but she was contemplating whether to do it or now.

As she stole a glance at the driver, all hail breaks loose because the only thing she remembered was she gave a peck to the architect's cheek then dashed off from the car as faster as the wind.


	22. Chapter 22

As Tiffany entered the house slowly, a voice suddenly erupted from the living room making her jumped in surprise.

"Who's that?"

Tiffany huffed in annoyance, "Daddy! You don't have to scare me like that!"

Tiffany took off her shoes and placed it on the shoe rack.

"Who's that?" her father repeated his question again without taking off his eyes from the black Mercedes that went inside the next house. He hid a small smile.

"No one. Just an Uber driver," Tiffany answered nonchalantly. She didn't want to face with her father's interrogation if her father knows about Taeyeon.

Mr. Hwang wanted to tease her daughter more but knowing how late it was already, he better stopped.

He followed her daughter that was heading to the kitchen. He cleared his throat off, wanting an attention from his daughter.

"Miyoung, can you skip your classes tomorrow?"

Tiffany who was drinking her glass of milk halted her action, "What?"

"I need to introduce you to the board tomorrow," her father explained.

Tiffany was more gladly to skip her classes tomorrow since she still hadn't done with today's assignments that would be submitted on the next day, but going to the office was two times worse than attending her classes.

"But it's too early, Daddy! My graduation is still months away," she whined.

Her father sighed, "I know... but I'm not getting younger, Miyoung. You need to start learning now." He said softly.

Hearing her father's response, she inwardly sighed. What her father said was true. She had witnessed a lot of scenes when her father was having a hard time. He had to take more than 4 pills to make his migraine lessen and it hurts her heart seeing the person she loved was going through a hard time.

Once she gulped the last drop of her milk, she placed the empty glass in the sink. Her mother would wash it in the morning anyway.

"Okay," she finally said. She looked at her father's happy expression, "But," she paused. "You need to tell to the professors why I'm not gonna attend my classes tomorrow."

Her father beamed a smile, "Your wish is my command, princess."

Once she was done her before going to bed routine, she picked Prince up who was sleeping on the couch in her room and brought him to the bed with her. The puppy was startled at first, but closed his eyes again as Tiffany pets him.

She made sure her puppy had already asleep before she checked her phone on the nightstand. She smiled as she saw a message popped up on the lockscreen.

 _From: Taeyeon_

 _Hi, I had fun today. Thank you ^^_

 _ps; if only you stayed for a little while, I'd do the same thing ;)_

She quickly typed a reply,

 _To: Taeyeon_

 _No, I should be the one who says thank you. I had fun too._

 _Good night and have a sweet dream!_

She was contemplating whether she should add an emoticon or not and should she even reply to Taeyeon's _ps_? She shrugged then pressed _send_.

She was about to call Jessica when Taeyeon's message popped up.

 _From: Taeyeon_

 _Good night, beautiful._

 _Have a sweet dream of me~ ;)_

She could feel the heat of her cheeks when she read the message. Who would ever think the mean architect was such a flirty and a sweet-talker person?

She shakes her head and ignored the message. Taeyeon needs to sleep early anyway.

She groaned as she put on her white shirt then buttoned it after.

She suddenly regretted declining her father's offer of taking her together to the office because at the moment, she was late. She only had 15 minutes to dress up. She was glad Prince licked her face or she wouldn't gonna make it.

Her father had already gone already, and her mother probably went to do grocery shopping so she had to drive on her own to the office.

She didn't have time to style her hair so she just tied it in a bun. Last check at the mirror, she grabbed her blazer hastily then to the office she headed.

Taking a glance at her wristwatch, she only had less than 5 minutes left so she walks in a quick steps because her tight skirt wouldn't allow her to run.

Her father employees seemed to notice her as they were all greeting and bowing at her. She could only give a polite smile as she was running out of time.

As she arrived in front of the meeting room, she takes a deep breath and exhaled it after.

 _It's_ _Stephanie Hwang in action._

"I'll let you off this time, Stephanie. You were 6 minutes late!" were her father's words as soon as they arrived in his office.

She could only stare at the ground while mumbling a sorry. If one thing that she really dislikes the most in the world besides bugs was when her father called her as Stephanie instead of Miyoung. Her father tends to call her as Stephanie when he was dead serious included now.

"Professionalism and punctuality are really important. Always remember that," he added again.

Tiffany couldn't lift her head up. She was really guilty. If only she didn't stay up just to watch a show that she really liked last night, she'd probably be complimented by her father, and not getting scolded for being late. She sighed. The board must be thinking her father didn't teach her enough to be punctual and that was the last thing she ever wanted.

Not long after, she heard her father sighed. "I have a meeting after this. You can stay here and get to know the workers," as if her father knows how she felt, his voice softens.

She could only nod, still scared to say anything. When she heard the door was being closed, she slumped her shoulder. She wanted to cry. Her father must be expecting a lot when he introduced her to the board but turns out the opposite. Most of the board had to excuse early because they have something important to do.

She never disappointed her parents. Since she was a little, her parents never ignored her. They granted her wishes, like a genie.

She wants a limited doll that only sells at Japan? Her father granted her wish.

She wants to visit the zoo? Her mother granted her wish because her father was too busy working.

She wants to ride a horse although her father's allergic to them? Her parents granted, her father had to use thick clothes and even a mask to protect himself.

She made a vow when she was 12. She vowed she would never disappoint her parents and make them proud of her. She wants her parents to be happy.

But now, she's a disappoinment. She heaved a sigh.

She suddenly remembered what her father said to her before he went out. He wants her to get to know the workers. Smiling at the thought, she braced herself. She'd make her parents proud, there's no giving up yet.

"Wow, you're the same age as me? I admire you!" Tiffany said truthfully.

She was getting better in knowing the workers although she couldn't really remember their names. There were like 20 people in just one floor and the office had 13 floors.

Currently, there was a worker who was of the same age as her and her position wasn't that high but still, she managed to find a job in the age. Considering Tiffany still had less than a year left till she's done with bachelor, the worker was at the other level.

She bade the 13th floor workers farewell and headed to the elevator. She didn't have a breakfast and it's almost lunch time. When the elevator was opened, she widened her eyes when she saw something who she least expected.

"Taeyeon?"

"Tiffany?"

Both said in unison.

Taeyeon walked out from the elevator.

"What are you doing here?" she sounded surprise.

"Daddy's order. How about you? Aren't you supposed to be working right now?" she asked back.

She takes a time to admire the person in front of her for a while.

Taeyeon was wearing a formal attire, same as hers but Taeyeon's hair was in a ponytail, which makes her younger and hot.

Tiffany blushed at her own thought.

"I am, but I need to send this document first. Can you wait here for a second?" Taeyeon awkwardly asked.

Tiffany nodded and chuckled.

As Tiffany waits for the architect, she greeted everyone who passes by. It was nice knowing the people she'd be going to work with in the future. The workers were kind enough to treat her the same although she's the daughter of the company founder.

"Hey," Taeyeon's touch on her arm made jolted in surprise. Taeyeon softly apologized but she shrugged it away.

"Let's go now," Taeyeon said again and drags her to the elevator.

"Go where?" she couldn't help but ask.

It was good enough they were the only one in the elevator as Taeyeon giggled. "Lunch, Miss Hwang. Working is fun, but eating is necessary. I'm on my break now anyway," Taeyeon unlocked her phone and showed the clock at her.

She just shakes her head and watched the numbers changing.

"You didn't attend your classes today?" Taeyeon's voice breaks the silence among them.

She looks at Taeyeon first before answering, "Nope. Daddy asked me not to."

Taeyeon nodded as her reply.

After it feels like forever, they finally reached the lobby. Once again, she was greeted by a lot of workers.

"Good afternoon, Miss Hwang."

"Have a good day, Miss Hwang."

"You look beautiful today, Miss Hwang."

She politely replied each of them back until she heard someone's snickered.

"Sigh, it's hard to walk with the President's daughter," Taeyeon dramatically said.

She playfully slapped Taeyeon's arm.

"Whose car are we going to use?" she asked when they had finally reached the carpark.

When the architect dragged her away from her car, she already got her answer.

"Hey, what time will you free today?" Taeyeon asked as soon as the waitress went away.

"I don't know. I need to ask Daddy first," she sighed.

"Okay. Let me know if you're done. I'll pick you up."

Tiffany gave a look, "I drive by myself today. No need to do that."

Taeyeon was about to reply when their food arrived. She waits for the waitress to deliver the food then thanked her in gratitude.

"So... how's your first day so far?" Taeyeon tried to make a conversation. She could feel like there must be something wrong with the other girl since she's unexpectedly quiet today. Knowing Tiffany, she'd always try to make a conversation and not the other way around.

Tiffany takes a spoon of rice and halted for a while. Thinking about today makes her mood gloomy all of a sudden. She brought the spoon into her mouth and chewed it slowly.

It was a long good silence before she starts to narrate her own story. She told Taeyeon about how her day turned into a disaster when she's late to the meeting with the board. She told how her own father scolded her for being late. And she still hadn't received any text messages from her father yet.

"I'm such a disappointment," she dropped her spoon.

Taeyeon reached for her hand and slowly pats it, "You're not a disappointment. You're more than that. Give some time to your father first."

It was simple. What Taeyeon said was really simple. If those words coming from other person, she'd probably laugh it off. But coming from Taeyeon, it really moved her heart. She looked at Taeyeon in admiration, "You're more than that too."

She was certain she could see something through Taeyeon's eyes, but she couldn't comprehend what it was.

"Tiffany, I have something to ask you," and Taeyeon suddenly becomes serious all of a sudden.

Tiffany cocked an eyebrow, "What is it?"

Tiffany saw Taeyeon put her chopstick and spoon down, she followed suit. Taeyeon also inhaled deeply.

"I know this isn't a suitable place to say this but I just really can't take it anymore. It hurts me seeing you in pain. It really hurts me till I could also feel your pain, funny isn't?," she paused, "Anyway, I swear I've already made a perfect plan but the feeling is just so right.."

Tiffany takes a deep breath.

 _Finally?_

"Tiffany, would you be m-" Taeyeon's word was cut off when Tiffany's phone rang.

Tiffany apologetically smiled then answered the call.

"Yes, Daddy?... I'm eating right now. Yes, with someone... Okay, Daddy. Love you." she ended the call.

Wearing a teasing smile, she asked the fidgeting architect, "So, where were we?"


	23. Chapter 23

After she hung up the phone, she thought hard of any possibilities why Tiffany's father wanted to meet her in person. They had never met personally ever since the project between both companies started. Perhaps they did, but there would always be another person whenever they met. Therefore, she's kind of feeling anxious because what would it be if it's none other than about his daughter because the project hadn't officially started yet and she's still seeking for ideas too. She gulped at that let's not also forget the fact that Tiffany's also a daddy's girl so it's a no surprise that Tiffany had been telling stories about her to her father.

She saw the clock on the wall shows it's quarter to 3, so she cleared her table and shut the computer down. She slowly got up from her seat and proceeded to put on her blazer that was hung on the coat rack. As her last step, she took her handbag and went to where Tiffany's father office was at.

Once she had arrived on the 11th floor, she took a deep breath and exhaled it right after. To say that she was nervous was really an understatement; besides, she hadn't really introduced herself as Tiffany's friend since day one. She crossed her fingers and silently hoped that everything's going to turn out well.

"Good afternoon, Miss Kim. Mr. Hwang is inside, he's waiting for you," the secretary greeted her.

She thanked her and let out a smile.

Her hands suddenly become sweaty all of a sudden and she mentally cursed at herself for getting too nervous. For the last time, she took a really deep breath and knocked on the door. When she heard the other person in the room gave permission to come in, she pushed the door slowly and was met with Mr. Hwang who's currently on his desk, with his reading glasses on, reviewing documents. He noticed her presence and took off his glasses instantly.

"Miss Kim, you're here already. Please take a seat," he gestured her to the settee. Then he placed the documents aside and pressed a button on the landline phone. "Can you make a cup of tea for Miss Kim, Bora?" he asked as soon as he heard the beep. "Sure, Sir."

Then, he looked at Taeyeon from his table, "I hope you don't mind. I'm not really a fond of coffee." He made a face that received a laugh from Taeyeon. "No, Sir. I don't mind at all."

He gets up from his seat and walked to the his own armchair located across Taeyeon's seat.

"So, how's your drawing going?" Mr. Hwang crossed his legs. Not long after, he let out a chuckle. "You don't have to be all tensed around me. I don't bite," when he saw how stiff Taeyeon was.

He gives a sincere smile to Taeyeon and that somehow helps calm down her nerve a little bit.

"Not yet, Sir. I'm still working on it," she replied shortly.

Silence engulfed in the air for less than 2 minutes before Bora, Mr. Hwang's secretary, enters with two cups of tea. She placed them on the table in front then excused herself.

"What do you think of my daughter, Miss Kim?"

Taeyeon who felt her throat was all dried up so she slowly sipped her tea, but coughed afterwards because of the old man's question. Tiffany's father quickly reached for the tissues that was on his left table and handed to her.

After she's done wiping her mouth, she cleared her throat nervously.

"I'm not oblivious, Miss Kim. I've seen both of you hanging out a lot," the old man continued again.

Taeyeon just stayed stiff. She didn't know what to say at the moment. It felt like her brain suddenly stopped functioning. She knew something was up when Tiffany's father's secretary called her and asked for an appointment, there was no other reason other than asking about Tiffany.

"We're just friends, Sir," she gulped.

"Of course you are."

Somehow that smile on Tiffany's father face creeped her out.

Tiffany was just done drying her hair when her phone beeped, indicating an incoming message. She put down the dryer on her dressing table and went to unlock her phone on the bed.

She unknowingly smiled when she read the sender's name.

 _From: Taeyeon_

 _Hi, are you home already?_

Clicking a button, she quickly typed her reply. She didn't expect for a reply to come soon so she threw her body on the bed along with her phone then heaved a sigh of pleasure.

Right after exiting her father's office, she gladly drove back home and was greeted with a sight of her mom with Mrs. Kim, talking at the living room. She greeted them before politely excused herself. She didn't want to disturb them as they were totally looking immersed discussing whatever topics they had. After that, she went to take a shower.

It was actually still early when she arrived home. She didn't know what she was thinking when she walked away from her father's office. She just hoped that her father wouldn't interrogate her once he's home tonight, but knowing own father, it would totally be a small chance of him to not to. Besides, she's kind of rude back then in the office.

She discarded her thoughts when she heard her phone rings. She closed her eyes, hoping the ringing would stop because she was totally not in the mood to entertain someone and she's currently thinking of taking a nap after all the hassle she did. When the ringing stopped, she let out a content smile and wrapped herself in her pink comforter, wanting to take a rest that she deserved, but instantly groaned when her phone rings again. She slowly let her hands wandered around the bed and once she found her phone, she huffed when she saw who the caller was. She swiped right.

"Hello?" she grunts, purposely letting the caller knows she wasn't happy with the sudden call at all.

 _"Don't use that tone on me. It will never work, Tiff,"_ the caller retorted.

She just rolled her eyes. "What do you want now?"

 _"Why didn't you attend any classes today? I was worried sick!"_

Listening her friend's tone, she knows she really did make her worried. She felt guilty all of a sudden. It was her fault too that she didn't tell her friend about her absence today because she was too busy texting her neighbor last night.

"I'm sorry," she softly said. "I forgot to tell you that daddy asked me to attend a meeting today," she continued.

She heard a sigh on the other line.

 _"Okay, but please don't forget to inform me first? I was really worried something happened to you."_

She smiled at the reply. Jessica wasn't the type to express her feelings, but when she did, it always made her flutter. Flutter as in feeling overwhelmed and thankful of her best friend's existence. No one knows her better other than Jessica, and vice versa. They'd been with each other as long as she could remember. She couldn't imagine how would her life be if she didn't meet Jessica.

 _"Tiff?"_

Jessica's voice brought her back from her trance. "I promise, Jessie. I'll inform you first next time," she paused, "And I bet we have homework today? Send me a text regarding it, will ya?"

 _"Yes, sure. Oh, I need to go. I have a date with Krystal tonight. You wanna join?"_

"Nahh, I think I'll pass. I'm too tired. Just enjoy your date with your sister. See you tomorrow," she wrapped her body back in her comforter.

 _"Thanks, see you tomorrow too. Bye!"_

And her friend hangs up before she even bade her goodbye. She just shook her head and checked her notifications when her eyes caught a message from Taeyeon. She didn't even realize that Taeyeon had replied to her text either.

 _From: Taeyeon_

 _Are you free tonight?_

She really had the urge to reply a "no", just like what she said to Jessica, but she didn't know why her instinct said she should say "yes" instead. Just like people say, "Follow your instincts."

So she did.

 _To: Taeyeon_

 _Yes, I'm free. Why?_

 _From: Taeyeon_

 _Wanna ask you for a bowling date. You in? ;)_

Besides pink, Tiffany also loved bowling. She might be sucks in playing games, but she's literally the opposite in bowling. It had been months since she last played bowling with Jessica and Yoona because of the bloody assignments and classes, but she still got her skills. And she also wanted to brag her bowling skills since Taeyeon liked to tease how bad she was in games.

 _To: Taeyeon_

 _Bring it on ;)_

And she was just about to close her eyes when she received another text from the architect.

 _From: Taeyeon_

 _Oh, and can you asked your driver to send you tonight? I might be late to pick you up and don't drive by yourself._

Knowing it wasn't looked like a big deal, she just agreed to her. Plus, she's also lazy to drive by her own. She didn't reply to that hecause her eyes felt really heavy at the moment and all she could think was letting them rest, but not long after, she heard a beep sound again.

 _From: Taeyeon_

 _And we're going to have a dinner beforehand. I don't wanna play with an empty tummy._

She let out a small smile. "Dork," she said and placed her phone on the nightstand. She slowly closed her eyes with a smile plastered on her face.


End file.
